A new proposal by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has many people scratching their heads, and rightly so.
Bloomberg might as well be King of the Nannies, given his record on trying to ban, tax and regulate everything he can get his hands on in New York City.
In 2010, according to The New York Times, Bloomberg proposed a tax on soda he argued “would reduce consumption … driving down obesity rates and the accompanying medical costs.”
The following year, Bloomberg said “government’s highest duty” was to “halt the worldwide epidemic of noncommunicable diseases.” In other words, the mayor believes government must encourage all of us, through taxes, bans and regulations, to have better dietary habits.
In January of this year, the nosy mayor pushed to make it harder to obtain alcohol in New York City by decreasing the number of places that sell adult beverages.
Bloomberg’s philosophy of public health assumes it is the government’s role to make us healthier, whether we want to or not.
However, his latest decision will likely have even the most nanny-state-oriented people wondering where to draw the line.
According to CBS New York, Bloomberg decided to ban “food donations to homeless shelters because the city can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content.”
That’s right, because there are people out there whose main goal is to take the time, energy and effort to make extremely fatty, salt-filled foods to donate to homeless shelters only to watch the homeless slowly die of heart disease and high cholesterol.
It might be one thing to want to screen the food donated to homeless shelters to ensure that everything had been properly cooked, but to ban food donations is just downright insane.
Not only will this proposal cost the city hundreds, if not thousands, in unnecessary food costs, but it will also likely lead to food shortages at homeless shelters across the city.
Bloomberg’s “duty” to ensure that even the homeless receive properly regulated and healthy food could mean less food to go around and more hungry homeless people.
So how, Mr. Bloomberg, are we supposed to regulate the fat, salt and fiber content of trash cans and dumpsters throughout the city?
Because, under your ban, more homeless will likely have to dig their way to a few scraps of garbage instead of getting safe, home-cooked meals donated by the most generous in the city.
Bloomberg’s move also completely ignores a new study from the American Journal of Hypertension which found “little significant evidence that eating more salt would shorten one’s life.”
Do you know what does shorten one’s life, Mr. Bloomberg?
Starvation.
