Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Driving Michigan’s Economy Further Into the Ground, Smokefree

The State of Michigan’s House Commerce Committee is attempting to establish one of the strongest anti-smoking bans in the United States, further intruding on business, personal and economic freedom.

Here’s what Andrew Meisner (D-Ferndale), the chair of the committee had to say about this.

Committee Chairman Andrew Meisner, D-Ferndale, called it one of the strongest bans in the country, but noted, “The Idea is not to punish ... we anticipate this being an economic boon,” as increasing numbers of consumers come to prefer smoke-free establishments.

I have to chuckle whenever I hear or read a politico’s assertion that “the idea is not to punish,” when pushing for some new restriction on freedom, but what I really want to highlight in this post is Meisner’s assertion that “we anticipate this being an economic boon,” which is highly unlikely.

I refer Mr. Meisner, and his fellow committee members, to this post, titled Smoking Ban Effects, which looks at the effects which the smoking ban has had on the State of Hawaii’s economy.

Bar and restaurant owners interviewed by Hawaii Reporter say their business is down between 10 percent and 25 percent since the 2006 smoking ban…

Gov. Linda Lingle, who signed the smoking ban legislation into law, acknowledged after returning from a trip to Japan this past June that Japanese tourism has been impacted.

There is a 10.3 percent decrease in Japanese visitors here in May 2007 over May 2006, according to a state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism report – part of a continuing trend downward. Convention and corporate meeting business from Japan declined between 28 percent and 57 percent in the first give months of 2007 when compared with the same 5 months in 2006; and Japanese tour groups saw a 17 percent drop during this same period.

Not exactly what any thinking individual would call an “economic boon.”

Panel lights fire under smoking ban

Posted by John Venlet on 07/25 at 09:21 AM
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