Another Day, another Due Date!

Today we received a call from Tracie’s doctor. The C-section have been changed from December 30th to December 29th. That means baby will be here a whole twenty four hours early. That is if the baby decides against coming out early. On 29-DEC, the baby will be 37 weeks and four days old. Can’t wait!

Wait.. I can.. I still have to finish the nursery. I know once the baby is here, that ain’t gonna happen :)

Update: The doctor called yesterday (12/22/06) and the Due date is now Dec. 30th. I get an extra day to prepare for the baby :)

Free Market at its best!

Yesterday I wrote about government forcing good intentions on the people of NY. I also said if the people are health conscious, restaurants that serve unhealthy food would not survive. Here is the proof

McDonald's forced to shut from lack of patronage in healthy town
McDonald's is closing its outlet in a town known for quality food and healthy, local produce.

The fast food chain in Tavistock, Devon, simply wasn't being used enough by locals.

So after seven years struggling to make ends meet in a town that has won many accolades for the quality of its food, McDonald's will finally shut up shop on Saturday.

John Taylor, chairman of Tavistock EatWise campaign, said: "Because of the quality of our local food McDonald's has not been able to compete."

A McDonald's spokesman said: "As part of an ongoing review of our restaurant sites, it has become clear that the location of McDonald's in Tavistock is no longer suitable."

London, Thursday 07.12.06

Being fat is the byproduct of poor life choices. It is easier to point fingers at the a big business because getting out of the chair to fix their lives might be just too much work.

You can still smoke in NY, but no trans fat!

"This is New York," she said. "People eat out a lot. We don't have a choice. We need someone to make it a healthier proposition."

When was the last time you saw anybody forcing people to eat at a specific restaurant or specific menu item?. If New Yorkers are not being force fed, then how is it that they do not have a choice?.

People always have the power to change things. That is the greatest thing about a free society. If you do not like the food a restaurant is serving, do not go there. The only option that restaurant have is to change and compete or shut down. Either way the people win. But today people want the GOVERNMENT to make choices for them.

If the state care about the health of the people so much, why don’t they just ban the sale of smoking products?. That would mean a huge cut in tax revenue; so the state is not ready to do that. The only thing lawmakers care about is votes. There is a bunch of idiots in NY who think government ban on Trans Fat will save them from being fat. Guess what, only you can change you. Stop eating bad stuff, exercise, and stop looking at politicians to make your life better!

If the government let the free market do its job, changes will happen. Wendy's International Inc. introduced a zero-trans fat oil in August; KFC said they will stop using oil with trans fats by April; McDonald's has been testing new oils. All results of demand. The NY law will put small mom & pop shops out of business with increased compliance and sudden change in supply logistics. The sudden increased demand in alternate cooking methods will ramp up the price on supply which in turn increase the price of menu items.

SO who exactly is the winners here?.
-The politicians who made a special interest group happy and now expect increased campaign donations.
-Suppliers who now have an imposed demand on non-trans-fatty cooking oil and can charge what ever they want.
-State treasury which will get higher revenue from the increased prices and fines imposed on people who just can’t comply.

Losers:
-NY’ers who doesn’t have much of a choice but to eat the crap they serve. Can’t complain because they bought it on them self by forcing the restaurants to change ingredients, and have to pay higher price because on the increased demand on certain cooking oil.
-Small businesses that do not have millions of dollars to spend in R&D and focus groups to test the new products or cannot order tons of new formulation and pay a premium for their ingredients.