10-25-2007, 07:11 AM
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#123 (permalink)
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Banned
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....anything for a buck....ehhh, ace? The congressmen from NC mentioned in your posts should be impeached....they are tools of the special interests who are the foundation for my argument about the "two tier" malignancy in the US that results in the superior numbers of "have nots" in the US, "taking it" in the nether regions from the buying out of the political power due them by the wealthy elite. Would a congressman who works for the greater good....a sincere representative of his constituents allow himself to have his vote (it isn't "his" vote...he's supposed to bring the collective will of his constituents to congress, or he should get the eff out....cede his privileges to someone who will vote the people's will..or in their best interests....) "bought" by corporations with profits greatly enhanced by...buying away populist political influence.....
Quote:
http://www.agr.state.nc.us/markets/c...ticul/tobacco/
...The Tarheel state continues to rank number one in the production of tobacco with an approximate 2006 annual farm income of $506.2 million dollars. In 2006, North Carolina flue-cured tobacco farmers raised 155,000 acres with an average yield of 2,090 lbs. per acre.......
....Employment relating to tobacco is 662,400 in the United States and 255,000 in North Carolina. The tobacco industry's estimated spending-induced impact on America's GNP was over $64.0 billion. North Carolina's tobacco economic impact is over $7.0 billion....
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Quote:
http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/gue...ildrens_health
Guest Post: Is Big Tobacco Stealth-Lobbying Against Children's Health?
By Howard Park on October 2, 2007 - 5:00pm.
The post below is written by my friend Howard Park, who now makes his living selling used books, but once made it bamboozling on behalf of corporate America. Read on for his stunning discovery of a grass-roots campaign that turns smokers into lobbyists against SCHIP. —Rick Perlstein
By Howard Park
Kid's don't vote. But smokers do, and the tobacco lobby is working hard to mobilize them to stop more kids from being covered by health insurance.
...Big PR firms conduct political and media training for the thousands of people in the extensive distribution networks that make up a mass-marketing corporation like Phillip Morris. The PR folks are also good at collecting personal data about employees such as what congressional district they live in or where they service stores.
When a Congressman needs a nudge to vote against something like funding health insurance for kids the grassroots lobbying network goes into action in targeted districts. The goal is to reach a Congressperson and their staff, but under the media radar. Phillip Morris USA is now owned by something now called "The Altrea Group" -- no doubt a name invented, over zillions of meetings, by public relations people. Any smart company since the 1980's makes every employee into a part-time grassroots lobbyist. An employee such as a route driver in places like rural Georgia help turn their customers, such as store clerks, into yet another layer of grassroots lobbyists—like the pretty clerk who asked me to sign the petition.
One nice thing about Burson-Marsteller and PM in the early 1990's was great benefits. Philip Morris, especially, was known for treating its people very well. Back then I never had a co-payment when I saw a doctor. It's not the same for people who live along the back roads or in big cities. Rural kids without health insurance are the sort of folks that Big Tobacco wants to grow up and become addicted to its products.
The biggest issue for Big Tobacco these days is exports-- making sure that American brands like Marlboro, Merit, and Camel continue to grow in huge markets mostly in Asia, South America and Europe. A 61 cent increase in the USA is still a big deal, however, which would have a noticeable impact on the American market. Big tobacco still has a good friend in the White House who probably still likes to think of himself as a Marlboro man as he clears brush in Crawford, Texas. The lobby also has just enough friends in Congress to sustain the Bush veto. Grassroots lobbying in places like a convenience store off the Interstate is still very important for tobacco companies. It's too bad that kids don't have the same voice or even health insurance. Don't be confused -- a vote against SCHIP is a vote for tobacco profiteers over kids......
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Quote:
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/repor...php?StateID=NC
....Smoking-Caused Monetary Costs in North Carolina
Annual health care costs in North Carolina directly caused by smoking $2.46 billion
- Portion covered by the state Medicaid program $769 million
Residents' state & federal tax burden from smoking-caused government expenditures $589 per household
Smoking-caused productivity losses in North Carolina $3.30 billion
Amounts do not include health costs caused by exposure to secondhand smoke, smoking-caused fires, spit tobacco use, or cigar and pipe smoking. Other non-health costs from tobacco use include residential and commercial property losses from smoking-caused fires (more than $500 million per year nationwide); extra cleaning and maintenance costs made necessary by tobacco smoke and litter (about $4+ billion nationwide for commercial establishments alone); and additional productivity losses from smoking-caused work absences, smoking breaks, and on-the-job performance declines and early termination of employment caused by smoking-caused disability or illness (dollar amount listed above is just from productive work lives shortened by smoking-caused death).
Tobacco Industry Influence in North Carolina
Annual tobacco industry marketing expenditures nationwide $13.4 billion
Estimated portion spent for North Carolina marketing each year $569.3 million
Published research studies have found that kids are twice as sensitive to tobacco advertising than adults and are more likely to be influenced to smoke by cigarette marketing than by peer pressure, and that one-third of underage experimentation with smoking is attributable to tobacco company advertising. ....
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