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You'd think that at the end of the day a corporate lobby should always lose when pitted against the people.

LeifCarrotson 5y ago
"Should" in the moral sense, absolutely! "Should" in the logical or probabilistic sense - "Would" - is more a question of power than of fairness or moral rightness. An evil despot should always lose against a righteous hero, but that doesn't mean they always do.
michaelt 5y ago
Not at all. Imagine regulations create an industry that pays 1000 people $100,000 a year, by charging 10,000,000 people $10 per year. Who do you think will campaign harder - the supporters or the opponents of those regulations?
- mikeyouse 5y ago
  It's like the sugar tariff in the US. Just a complete garbage policy that imposes a small individual cost on everyone who buys sugar but benefits like 4 companies with massive profits who lavishly lobby to keep the price floor in place. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Sugar_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Sugar_Program
  - orangepurple 5y ago
    The sugar tariff is indirectly responsible for the deaths of many Americans because high fructose corn syrup is used in lieu of regular sugar in many foods and beverages instead. Fructose is extremely damaging to the body because the liver can barely metabolize it and most of the excess goes to liponeogenesis which ultimately manifests itself in tremendous buildup of visceral fat, with all the implications that carries. Meanwhile glucose is typically mostly stored alongside muscles as glycogen, and the human body can store far more glucose effectively than fructose.
    - opo 5y ago
      The most common forms of high fructose corn syrup are HFCS-42 and HFCS-55. HFCS-42 has 42 percent fructose and HFCS-55 has 55 percent fructose, with the remaining sugars being primarily glucose. As a comparison, common table sugar (sucrose) is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. While there are public health problems caused by over consumption of sugar, simply switching to sucrose is not really a solution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup
    - pkaye 5y ago
      Does that make fruits and honey also bad because they have fructose? Even cane sugar is 50% fructose.
      - orangepurple 5y ago
        They are all bad when consumed in large quantities because the human body can only metabolize a small amount of fructose per day. One fruit contains little total sugar and also contains fiber which is an important fermentation substrate which aids in reducing the quantity of fructose entering the body.
rfriedman99 5y ago
Love your optimism, unfortunately it's not consistent with the facts.

"Should" in the moral sense, absolutely! "Should" in the logical or probabilistic sense - "Would" - is more a question of power than of fairness or moral rightness. An evil despot should always lose against a righteous hero, but that doesn't mean they always do.

michaelt 5y ago

Not at all. Imagine regulations create an industry that pays 1000 people $100,000 a year, by charging 10,000,000 people $10 per year. Who do you think will campaign harder - the supporters or the opponents of those regulations?

mikeyouse 5y ago
It's like the sugar tariff in the US. Just a complete garbage policy that imposes a small individual cost on everyone who buys sugar but benefits like 4 companies with massive profits who lavishly lobby to keep the price floor in place. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Sugar_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Sugar_Program
- orangepurple 5y ago
  The sugar tariff is indirectly responsible for the deaths of many Americans because high fructose corn syrup is used in lieu of regular sugar in many foods and beverages instead. Fructose is extremely damaging to the body because the liver can barely metabolize it and most of the excess goes to liponeogenesis which ultimately manifests itself in tremendous buildup of visceral fat, with all the implications that carries. Meanwhile glucose is typically mostly stored alongside muscles as glycogen, and the human body can store far more glucose effectively than fructose.
  - opo 5y ago
    The most common forms of high fructose corn syrup are HFCS-42 and HFCS-55. HFCS-42 has 42 percent fructose and HFCS-55 has 55 percent fructose, with the remaining sugars being primarily glucose. As a comparison, common table sugar (sucrose) is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. While there are public health problems caused by over consumption of sugar, simply switching to sucrose is not really a solution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup
  - pkaye 5y ago
    Does that make fruits and honey also bad because they have fructose? Even cane sugar is 50% fructose.
    - orangepurple 5y ago
      They are all bad when consumed in large quantities because the human body can only metabolize a small amount of fructose per day. One fruit contains little total sugar and also contains fiber which is an important fermentation substrate which aids in reducing the quantity of fructose entering the body.

rfriedman99 5y ago

Love your optimism, unfortunately it's not consistent with the facts.