But to the head of Coca-Cola, Muhtar Kent (now there’s a name only a Barack Obama could relate to), the president is a communist for saying a tax on sugary sodas would improve the health of America’s children and raise money to help finance health insurance for everyone. Kent said the idea is something the Soviet Union would have done.
At least he didn’t use race as a proxy for contempt of the president, unseemly as it would be for someone whose parents are Turks to do. But he remains an example of the insane haters in American who, unable to win an argument on the merits, call names.
The state of Arkansas has had a soda tax for about $15 years, and it helps fund Medicaid and children’s health. There is more hard scientific evidence linking soda with obesity in children than there is that the Republican leadership is racist. Close call, though.
Since the beginning of taxation, the usage of things society thinks are dangerous are taxed: Cigarettes, gasoline, alcohol, snack foods. Things powerful corporations like are given tax reductions or government subsidies: Sugar, oil, health insurance, farm products, home mortgages, capital gains.
Kent, by the way, earns $20 million a year poisoning Americans, including me. I drink as many as four Diet Cokes a day, and I am now going to quit. Not because I want to gain weight, lower my glucose levels or keep what few teeth I have left. But because contemptible corporate child murderers like Muhtar Kent can be persuaded only one way. It won't stop Pepsi or Dr. Pepper from continuing to contaminate our bodies, but it might stop irresponsible corporate pigs from calling their president a communist.
So,
BOYCOTT COCA-COLA
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