Steve Forbes is letting off steam in his fact and comments-piece. What's with this big filings suing companies because of the products they sell and let customers freely choose to buy it or not. For me this somehow proves my theory on guilt: that the people in their forties-fifties is putting their guilt and shame externally. "I'm fat - that is McDonald's fault." or "I'm dying from lung-cancer - that must be Philip Morris to feel ashamed."
• Television makers. Their sets force us to become couch potatoes, thereby damaging our health. They must share the blame for our national fatness.
• Ditto, TV programmers. If Hollywood and independent producers didn't produce shows, we'd be out jogging or exercising at the gym.
• Auto companies. If they didn't make vehicles, there'd be less air pollution, no more carnage on the highways, no more of those aggravating insurance costs.
• New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other antismoking zealots. Is it a coincidence that obesity has risen as tobacco use has declined? Cigarette-smoking boosts the metabolism; stop smoking--and wham!--the pounds pour on.
• Trial lawyers. Thanks to their lawsuits, countless schools have shut down or curtailed activities on their playgrounds. Teen-agers aren't eating much more than they did in the past, but they're exercising 30% less than previous generations.
• Volcanoes. A Krakatau-size eruption will spew more stuff into the atmosphere in a day than all the Earth's factories have done over the last 200 years. Since we can't collect money from volcanoes, we should shake down national governments that harbor these environmentally unsound entities. If the countries are too poor to pay, then Washington can put up the cash; after all, the U.S. is responsible for all of the woes of the world, isn't it?
