Compare coffeehouses and bars. Most coffeehouses are non-smoking.
Most or all bars are smoking. Why the difference? Big Tobacco (BT) tilts the playing field by "buying space" (at a very high rate) for their wall posters and signs; often they promote them free in ads in local papers. For the bar owner it's a known amount of "free money", say X-thousand dollars annually, that can go thru his head whenever BT is mentioned or smoking bans threaten to remove that money. I can imagine the bar owner fuming - Those @)#(*% smoking ban #($*^ are gonna take MY X-thousand dollars AWAY! Those dirty $(%&*#!!! Now, the bar might turn out to make more money appealing to the large majority with a smoking ban. BUT is is not and never will be a definite known amount of free money got for doing nothing. And till a year or three go by, and the profits are clearly higher, the owner is going to fume for his lost free cash. This was and is a very clever ploy by BT. Put a bag of money on one end of the playing field, tilt the field, and keep those sacrificial lungs puffing away. There is not and never has been a BT subsidy for coffeehouses. No free BT money. No tilted playing field. And here the UN-subsidized market works as the free enterprise folks say. A few smoking coffeehouses, many smoke-free, and another going smoke-free every few months. --David Shove Roseville On Wed, 29 Dec 2004, Steve Nelson wrote: > > Scott McGerik > > South St Paul (formerly of Hawthorne) > wrote > > I wonder about those who wanted a smoking ban so that they could go to a > > smoke-free bar. > > Considering there are 82% of us who are non-smoking and only 18% who are it > would seem we are already indicating that we would prefer businesses that > are smoke-free. However, this logical conclusion has been trumped--until > now--by tobacco industry propoganda that smoking establishments must > continue to cater to only 18% of the population to make a profit. A great > many of the 82% still drink even if they don't smoke and they love music. > Sounds like these places would do more business instead of less. > > I know there are many places I would go as part of the 82% that I now avoid > because I can't stand the smoke in the air. > > Steven M Nelson > Willard Hay > http://citizenshipchronicles.blogspot.com/ > Get UP! Get OUT! & GET INVOLVED!!! > > REMINDERS: > 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL > PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
