The Sugar Tax

A case of regular Gatorade costs around $15.99....at least in 99-percent of the country.  If you live in Seattle....there's a surcharge for all stores within the city-limits....of roughly $10.50 on top of that case. 

So the question, would you easily walk into a Seattle city grocery, and pay $26.33 on the case?  Out of a hundred people....my best guess is that 95-percent of them will say no, and then drive a mile outside of the city limits, and buy bulk....enough for an entire month and avoid the $10.50 per case surcharge.

No one in the city council says much over the implications, but you have to figure that their city tax collection folks are looking over the situation and in six months....note they are missing 5-percent of their typical normal income.  In fact, if you were already at the bulk-grocery store....why not shop and buy most everything you need?  So you could be talking about 25-percent of the anticipated tax collection missing.

Don't get me wrong, I do believe this sugar gimmick of sodas and drinks is harming folks.  In a 12-ounce solution, there probably ought to be a maximum limit of sugar.  But all this fee-based business just makes folks go drive an extra ten-minutes and buy bulk....avoiding your fee. 

The Problem with Sh**hole Politicians

If you look back toward late last week....Senator Dick Durbin (D) is the guy who came out of a Trump meeting and noted that Trump mentioned the sh**hole countries.  This was a meeting with twenty-odd folks attending.

Then as each day passes, you begin to notice different interpretations of what Trump said by each of the twenty-odd Senators and Representatives.  Some felt was a negative word, but just not sh**hole.  Some said it was a neutral word. 

What really happened?

I'm to the point now where I think Trump was sitting there with twenty-odd folks who are either incompetent, drugged-up, or just in some daze. 

You probably had one or two folks who brought their invisible friend with them.  You probably had one guy who is on the edge of dementia.  You probably had at least one guy who is hyped up on opioids. 

The fix here....I think....is to start airing all of these meetings in a public manner, off YouTube and the sh**hole comments will pretty much stop, and some folks will start to comment on the crazy-factor of their Senator or Representative.