I am but an observer, but I find bias distorts perception. Here’s my latest prediction and the one thing I am most worried about and that is the California tax on tobacco. Dumbest thing ever, we should repeal all taxes, subsidize tobacco and allow it indoors and in all public places and offices.
we should come within inches of mandating it.
This might sound crazy but all these nanny state laws are going to drive up costs for social security, medicare and other retirement expenses that workers subsidize. There’s no argument that they work, but the costs of people living longer are going to be our greatest challenges in the future. I shouldn’t say this as a man in striking distance of his 50th birthday but the system benefits from shorter lifespans. Youth is finite, the amount of years the young are a drain on the economy is fairly constant. Death keeps moving further out to the point that working life is nearing parity with retirement life. That is going to be a problem. Mark my words, you know I’ll bump and quote this prediction in 20 years.[/quote]
Not crazy at all. Phillip Morris actually lobbied against a proposed cigarette tax in the Czech Republic using the same argument.
