Banning Fast Food is Dumb
Essentially, the story is that the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to ban the opening of new fast food restaurants for a year. The details are:
The ban covers a 32-square-mile area for one year, with two possible six-month extensions.
The area contains about 500,000 residents, including those who live in West Adams, Baldwin Hills and Leimert Park.
The law defines fast-food restaurants as “any establishment which dispenses food for consumption on or off the premises, and which has the following characteristics: a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders and food served in disposable wrapping or containers.”
I didn’t see much of the commentary on this because I was out of town, but according to William Saletin, Klein and Yglesias have taken the conservative position by saying this is nothing new. Or, if you prefer, they’ve taken the liberal position by defending the government’s right to impose really dumb choices on everyone.
Here’s the issue I take with this law. Even if you accept that Los Angeles has an obesity “problem,” some parts of Los Angeles also have a crime problem, unemployment problem, education problem, drug problem, and poverty problem. You help reduce crime, unemployment, and drugs by making sure people have access to JOBS. You can ensure that people can survive in spite of their education problem by making sure they have access to LOW-SKILLED JOBS. And you can ensure that people can survive in spite of their poverty problem by making sure they have access to AFFORDABLE FOOD.
Why a bunch of Los Angeles do-gooders want to make it as difficult as humanly possible for employers to provide jobs and affordable products to their residents is beyond me. There are unintended consequences to stupidity. Memo to obesity warriors: priorities!
