Tracy R Reed wrote:
gossamer axe wrote:
The only problem with supporting the "smokers are 2nd class citizens" is
that if 100% of smokers quit, then there is no more tax revenue and no
scapegoat.
I'm not sure what is being scapegoated for but I bet the reduced
health care costs would cover the tax revenue.
Not exactly. Not only would direct tax revenue be lost on the cigarette
sales themselves, but then a secondary tax loss indirectly on the
manufacture and sale of drugs used to treat symptoms.
I would happily pay the tax elsewhere if necessary. This morning on
the way up to my office I was trapped in the elevator with a super
stinky smoker. Ugh.
Don't breathe in thru your nose. ;)
Hit the button for the very next floor. ;)
(Then it's up to you whether to step off or to push him out.) ;)
You could tell him that he has a stench that gags you. I know it's not
polite or customary to do so, but he probably is unaware of how bad it
is. Probably, no one has the guts to tell him. If he chooses to blow
you off, then he can suit himself. He will silently be annoying
everyone he is around and no one will be telling him. If he mentions to
a friend that some rude guy in the elevator had the nerve to tell him
that he stinks of cigarette smoke, the friend will likely say that he
didn't want to say anything, but ...
We're already seeing society go after people that are overweight
along with talk of a "fat tax".
Are you referring to charging fat people more for flying on airlines?
As a pilot myself I can tell you that you cannot escape the laws of
physics.
Are you proposing that people be charged according to weight at time of
boarding? That certainly would be incentive for frequent flyers to drop
the dead weight. Bean poles would get the best adult fares and fat kids
would be charged more than bean poles. I don't know if it's still the
practice, but kids used to be charged just as much as adults because the
used seat meant that they couldn't fill it with a full-paying adult. Or
maybe it should be charged based on some sliding ratio between number of
seats used and overall weight. Number of seats being used is an issue
when a flight is full or expected to be. Weight will always be an issue
on fuel. I remember hearing that American Airlines, by not painting
most of the exterior of their planes, saves about 200 pounds per flight.
--
Ralph
--------------------
The most arduous task a reformer has to execute, is to make people think; to
rouse them from that lethargy, which, like the mantle of sleep, covers them in
repose and contentment.
--Noah Webster, 1789
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