Fat Taxes and the Road to Serfdom

From Yahoo

On Oct. 1, consumers in Denmark saw a sudden jump in the cost of many of their favorite bread-friendly products. The average price of a half-pound package of butter increased by 2.5 krone (or 45 U.S. cents). A pound of cheese rose from 34.5 krone ($6) to 36 krone ($6.50). And don't even think about lard. In a single day, the cost of a half-pound block of pork fat skyrocketed from 12 krone ($2.15) to 16 krone ($2.85) — a 35% increase. Thanks to a new fat tax, Danes are paying more for just about anything they might want to slather on a piece of bread.

Other countries have imposed tariffs on food and drink considered unhealthy, but Denmark is taking the "fat tax" appellation literally. In the name of reducing cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes, the law that went into effect on Saturday specifically targets saturated fats — the fats found most commonly in animal products like butter, cream, and meat. But few outside the government seem to think it's a good idea — or even a healthy one.

Social engineering policies like the above, which attempts to “nudge” people’s behavior, are expressions of how political leaders think of us. They see as incorrigible idiots who don’t know what is the best interest for ourselves. They essentially are imposing their value preferences on us.

While waging war against the 'fat' or 'obese' seems noble sounding, the unintended consequence is to politically stigmatize people who are ‘fat’ or ‘obese’. In short, such paternal nudging policies promote discrimination and societal divisiveness. Shouldn’t we also tax skinny people too who may also signify as health hazards?

The other unintended effect has been to raise consumer prices which affects not only the fat but even the non obese. So the social costs of rectifying such aberrations will unfortunately befall to everyone.

Social engineering policies signify as slippery slope or incremental steps towards total control of people—a totalitarian state.

As Ludwig von Mises wrote,

The "social engineer" is the reformer who is prepared to
"liquidate" all those who do not fit into his plan for the arrangement of human affairs.

On the other hand, the welfare state, whom have increasingly been burdened by financial strains as a result of the ballooning of the unsustainable system, has been using such ‘sin taxes’ as pretext or as propaganda to raise funds in order to maintain or preserve on the privileges of the political class.

The Philippine Government’s War Against Facebook

The Philippine government has initiated its stealth war against social media.

From the Philippine Inquirer,

Be wary of foreigners suddenly “liking” you on Facebook or other social networking sites, an official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) advised netizens.

PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon said many drug mules or persons used to transport drugs through international borders were befriended and recruited online.

The Philippine government is on a slippery slope towards social media censorship and has used its war against drugs as justification.

It’s best to know that there are two different issues: war against drugs and war against social media.

Slippery slope simply means the government uses the war on drugs as a launching pad to expand political control over social media. They start with “warnings” first. Later this will be buttressed with statutes. Interventionism begets interventionism.

The war against social media is aimed at restricting the flow of information that runs against the interest of the government—via censorship.

Governments have been reeling from spontaneous People Power movements abroad fueled by social media, thus sees this information medium as a threat which must be neutralized.

For now, the so-called “warnings” are directed at the recruitment of drug Mules or carriers.

Shown below from PDEA (2008),

Drug mules have been exploding, the chart has not been updated. Yesterday’s TV news program reported 600+.

The propaganda: social media will be a major tool for the growth of drug abuse, thus must be controlled. Creeping government interventionism starts with public conditioning by indoctrination.

The Philippines is now among the top 10 major Facebook users (checkfacebook).

This means that the sin of 1,000 or less, will be used as an excuse to control the activities of 22 million Filipinos. As usual, interventionists apply the fallacy of composition to justify their actions.

Yet PDEA does NOT explain why from 20,000 reported cases of drug abuse in 1972, in 2004, the year Facebook was launched, drug usage has exploded to 6.7 million. (PDEA timeline)

The Philippine population in 1972 was 38.7 million, in 2004, the number of Filipinos grew to 83.9 million: this means about 8% of Filipinos are drug users (as of 2004), despite the statutes RA 9165, EO 218.

In short, drug trade and use has been flourishing in spite of Facebook. Facebook as a social medium functions as aggravating factor rather than the root cause.

However, Facebook will likely bear the brunt of the government [regulatory] failure (drug war) and the attempts to curtail the freedom of speech and expression.