New York Soda Ban

It doesn't seem like the answer to the obesity epidemic is to regulate an industry as to what they can sell and in what quantities. This is a slippery slope to the government regulating or rationing what you can consume. I think we all understand the concept of a social contract but that's not an excuse to restrict personal freedoms that may inflict self harm. In actuality we already do this with drugs and other freedoms, but I think that generally the idea there is that with those restricted freedoms one has a greater propensity to cause not only self harm but also harm to others. One can readily cite restricted freedoms that wouldn't cause much harm to others, while also citing freedoms that currently cause harm to others. I know it's not a perfect system as it's somewhat steeped in history and self-interest, but there it is. Besides, people with health problems already pay higher health care premiums, although that may have changed recently with the recent Health Reform - honestly I haven't been keeping pace with it.

I sort of wonder how exactly the bill is worded. If I owned a restaurant I would just cut the price of the beverage so that the customer, on average, is paying the same cost per volume.

In a lot of fast food places, you get free refills regardless of the size of the cup. Anytime I happen to find myself in such a place, I always get the smallest size.