European Tribune - Comments - Monday Open Thread

Monday Open Thread | 80 comments (80 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Another Anglo-disease (none / 1)

Someone is making money off this. Perhaps the first step might be to tax some of those profits for cleanup/riot control?

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 01:35:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Another Anglo-disease (4.00 / 4)

My recommendation for the US is to place a 100% tax on alcohol advertisements and devote the proceeds to clean up. This should start with trauma care and psychological counseling for innocent victims and for victims of spousal abuse. Make it more expensive to encourage anti-social behavior.

If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.

by ARGeezer (argeezer a in a circle yahoo dot com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 01:51:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Another Anglo-disease (none / 0)

It doesn't appear to be price sensitive behaviour. There is always cheap booze for those determined enough to drink filth. And the worst behaviour rarely happens around pubs that serve cheap high quality beer, rather they want high priced crap lager to swill by the bucket.

And nbody seems able to provide an epxlanation as to why the French, with much lower booze prices, don't exhibit the same behaviour. Aside from exploring cultural differences that don't fit the comforting Brits-rule tabloid preference.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 02:14:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Another Anglo-disease (none / 1)

Increase the tax as required to prevent brewers and bottlers from being able to profit from glorifying and validating this sort of destructive behavior. If the brewer had to pay a 300% tax on advertising, it might not affect the boozer so much as the behavior of the brewer.

If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.

by ARGeezer (argeezer a in a circle yahoo dot com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 02:32:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Another Anglo-disease (none / 0)

It's not like smoking. Smoking might give you a nice feeling briefly, but it's not the fun intoxication that getting drunk provides. If you smoke enough to actually get high, you're probably going to regret it. But with booze, you could make the tax 500% (hell, you could ban advertising on it), and people are still going to get tanked and do stupid shit, because people know alcohol has that effect, and many like to get tanked and happen to do stupid shit once tanked.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 02:42:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Another Anglo-disease (none / 0)

I imagine that would be extremely easy to evade, they'd just change the focus of what is being advertised.

F'r instance, there are rules about how much beer is served in a glass and there is a constant war of attrition between brewers and consumers about this. One more ingenious suggestion by one brewer was that they weren't selling you a pint of beer, they were selling you a leisure experience.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 02:42:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Another Anglo-disease (none / 1)

I am convinced such a tax could be implemented, however, not under the current US campaign finance system. A large loophole would certainly be inserted. It is the same problem with every legislative attempt to reduce tax "avoidance" by the upper income brackets--convincing >50% of legislators to simultaneously bite the hands that feed them. Tall order, but it would be a wonderful spectacle!

If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.

by ARGeezer (argeezer a in a circle yahoo dot com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 01:04:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Another Anglo-disease (none / 1)

From the point of view of financing vomit cleanup/riot control (not to mention healthcare, liver treatments etc.) - all the better that it's not price sensitive behaviour...

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 02:51:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Another Anglo-disease (none / 0)

One could make a good argument that massive taxation of beer advertising, corporate profits derived from beer sales, etc. is more socially responsible than legalizing gambling.

If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.

by ARGeezer (argeezer a in a circle yahoo dot com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 01:09:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Another Anglo-disease (4.00 / 3)

And nbody seems able to provide an epxlanation as to why the French, with much lower booze prices, don't exhibit the same behaviour.

The secret is simple: food. Good food. And talking about food.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 06:10:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Another Anglo-disease (none / 0)

The secret is simple: ~~food.~~ Good food. ~~And talking about food.~~

Fixed. It's not that they lack food.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 06:16:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

actually, (none / 1)

even bad food will help - as long as you take it at the same time as drinking. The problem is drinking and not eating.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 06:28:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Monday Open Thread | 80 comments (80 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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