Soft drinks are pretty much poison. But I've never been one to force people from making their own lifestyle choice. It wouldn't be the first time that liberals have made policy for "moral good" while creating disastrous consequences.
Now about the poor. That's an interesting topic. Going to some places on Reddit, you have all these left-wing people who think that there is some rich vs poor dichotomy, that the conservative parties who are full of rich people who want to profit at the poor people's expense. Basically socialist lite. Funny that the majority of these left wingers are college educated middle class, and they think any poor people are vote right are 'voting against their own interests', in the typical condescending attitude they have where they think only they know what is right for everyone.
People being poor is partly their own fault, partly the fault of their situation. One of the biggest factor keeping people poor is welfare. Simply put, if people get money for doing nothing, they are not incentivised to work lots and give up all their free time for only slightly better living standards. Most poor people do not work many hours [1] [2]. And like abraker says, lots of the poor are druggies, no good people where it's entirely their fault. If you actually go to low-income neighborhoods, you will see this. Lots of people have the opportunity, few people use that opportunity. In the end, the only thing that can get people out of poverty is the people themselves, with hard work and determination. And lots of welfare and social programs are counter-productive for this.
Of course one of the factors of poverty is the labour market, as a lot of people can't find full time work even though they want to. One of the solutions for this is deregulation of the working environment and reduction of the minimum wage, to get rid of the artificial barrier to finding work. Countries in the EU without minimum wage laws have about a 33% smaller unemployment rate than those that do [3].
[1] http://poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/who-are- ... or-america
[2] http://poverty.ucdavis.edu/research-pap ... arch-needs
[3] https://www.cato.org/publications/comme ... -wage-laws
Now about the poor. That's an interesting topic. Going to some places on Reddit, you have all these left-wing people who think that there is some rich vs poor dichotomy, that the conservative parties who are full of rich people who want to profit at the poor people's expense. Basically socialist lite. Funny that the majority of these left wingers are college educated middle class, and they think any poor people are vote right are 'voting against their own interests', in the typical condescending attitude they have where they think only they know what is right for everyone.
People being poor is partly their own fault, partly the fault of their situation. One of the biggest factor keeping people poor is welfare. Simply put, if people get money for doing nothing, they are not incentivised to work lots and give up all their free time for only slightly better living standards. Most poor people do not work many hours [1] [2]. And like abraker says, lots of the poor are druggies, no good people where it's entirely their fault. If you actually go to low-income neighborhoods, you will see this. Lots of people have the opportunity, few people use that opportunity. In the end, the only thing that can get people out of poverty is the people themselves, with hard work and determination. And lots of welfare and social programs are counter-productive for this.
Of course one of the factors of poverty is the labour market, as a lot of people can't find full time work even though they want to. One of the solutions for this is deregulation of the working environment and reduction of the minimum wage, to get rid of the artificial barrier to finding work. Countries in the EU without minimum wage laws have about a 33% smaller unemployment rate than those that do [3].
[1] http://poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/who-are- ... or-america
[2] http://poverty.ucdavis.edu/research-pap ... arch-needs
[3] https://www.cato.org/publications/comme ... -wage-laws
