http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fastfood10sep10,0,4559964.story?coll=la-home-center"The people don't want them, but when they don't have any other options, they may gravitate to what's there," said Councilwoman Jan Perry, who proposed the ordinance in June, and whose district includes portions of South L.A. that would be affected by the plan.
Yes because the sheeple are too stupid to decide what they want to eat. And of course the problem isn't people wanting KFC but because all that is offered to them is KFC they eat it.
Markets are driven by supply and demand. If people truly did not want fast food then there would not be 20 fast food places in one location. But they are arguing the cart is before the horse and that because all that is offered is fast food, people are stuck eating it. I don't agree this is the situation. If there were truly a demand for health food places then any health food place would simply clean up the moment they opened. Plus fast food places would see specific items soar on their menus. If salads were selling 10 to 1 to hamburgers then they would see a trend and adjust accordingly.
But I have heard fast food offered as an example of the need for government control. Its used as an exmaple of if you let people eat what they want, all they will eat is junk food. Now I don't agree with government control and I also don't belive in the Dennis Miller phrase "Eskimos love blubber cause that's all they serve at the all you can eat artic buffet". People love fast food. it tastes good.
But the problem isn't with free market as the arguements I have heard implies simply because it is not the job of the free market to feed anyone proper nutrition. What's being removed here is personal responsibility for taking control of diet. The idea that restaurants are mommy and daddy giving you your meal. That is not the job of McDonalds to feed you right.. its your job. But as we move more toward a nanny state, people seem to think its the responsibility of others to make sure they are fed right.
But especially for children, what's to eat is not completely a matter of choice. Legislators in California and elsewhere are giving closer scrutiny to school food. In 2002, the Los Angeles Unified School District was one of the first school districts in the country to ban soda, candy and other high-fat snack foods from school vending machines as of July 2004. The next year the school board decided to reduce sodium, sugar and fat in school lunches. At the federal level, there are proposals in the farm bill to spend an additional $3 billion over five years on fruits and vegetables for school programs.
Now here I do thing regulation comes in ONLY because the state runs the schools and so limits the kid's choices to what the school provides if the parents don't provide a lunch. Because kids are essentially forced to go to the school and so must use the school cafeteria they are not in a free market situation.
