The Economy and How Soda is not going to Fix it.

[Johnny Tynes]

I realize Barack Obama is in a tough place. He's got a pretty messed
up country, that is apart of a pretty messed up world. A lot of that
is the fault of the guy before him. I don't expect him to be perfect
just because he happens to speak perfectly. It can't be easy trying
to build a new modern infrastructure and some form of socialized
healthcare while picking up the pieces of the last 8 years.

I think that his lofty goals are not unattainable but I'm not sure
he's going about things the right way.

Printing money to cover the asses of the major bricks that build are
economy is a risky venture. Not necessarily a damning one but
definitely risky. The problem is that it''s making our money less
valuable in a time when the economy is already staggered. Perhaps in
time it will turn these companies around, but it may not.

Then the other plan, which is supposed to pay for health care, is
taxing tobacco, soda, and alcohol. Now i do agree that if government
is going to supply healthcare, than maybe trying to discourage
smoking, and possible getting some compensation for it, is a fair
trade as smoking does drive up healthcare costs. The problem is that
there may be a risk that taxing these products too heavily will
adversely effect the lower and middle class. Thus not helping the
economy. There is certainly a narrow line being walked here. The
lower and middle classes should not be forced to give up Mountain Dew
and Budweiser because Reaganomics was a bust. They didn't get us into
this mess.

I say they. . but i mean we.

While I would respect a slight increase in tobacco and alcohol taxes
(and i do mean slight) to pay for healthcare, I don't think it should
be the only approach and the government should be careful not to tax
these products too highly, especially when the people who work hard,
aren't seeing their money go as far as it used too.

There's another approach that could work very well, and if you're
reading this on the facebook group VA/TN Citizens for Marijuana Law
Reform or the Google Group, than you probably may have guessed where
i'm going with this. Myspace people, catch up.

Taxing and regulating Marijuana and Industrial Hemp, while reining in
the often unquestioned runaway D.E.A. budget would put Billions if not
Trillions of dollars into the economy. Almost half the country uses
marijuana or would support new laws. EVERYONE could benefit from
industrial hemp as fuel, food, and textiles. Right now, other
countries are profiting from our use of industrial hemp and violent
gangs are profiting from our use of marijuana. Meanwhile the D.E.A.
is burning through resources trying to stop something that doesn't
hurt people and quite frankly, will not go away. I would gladly pay a
little bit more, knowing that they taxes of marijuana would go toward
fixing our dilapidated economic structure and that i would not be
jailed for a "crime" that doesn't hurt anyone, and improved my sense
of well being.

Now, if you've made it to the end of this blog than I salute you.
This probably won't be read by any lawmakers. Just people on the
internet. People who i hope are registered voters. Please, take
this to heart. E-mail your congressman, call them, or use snail
mail. Tell them you want to see this economy fixed, and that you
don't want 872,000 people a year to have to see the inside of a jail
cell, when they didn't hurt anyone. Tell them that patients are not
criminals, and that you want hemp ethanol and food products because
corn is not as viable as some would lead you to believe and soy is
full of estrogen.

Right now there are two bills being proposed that help the marijuana
cause, and one that would put a first time seller in jail for 25
years. Tell your congressmen and senators how you feel about these
two bills because taxing soda is not going to be enough.