In the news today (How I loathe it!) an article about how the Alberta Government is considering leaping upon the bandwagon of suing the tobacco manufacturers to recover expenses related to Health Care.
Now this is an old show, remarkably transparent but a crowd pleaser, it still seems to appease a surprising number of people.
The government has, for a long time, been in the business of "Trying to get us to quit smoking". Now there are too many good arguments as to why we should quit smoking for me to dispute. Smoking is a nasty habit that has proven negative long term health effects.
But there's something about this coming from the government, - the government that makes $8-$10 per pack of cigarettes, that is a little like a pimp lecturing you on the evils of prostitution.
No tobacco company makes even the smallest fraction of what the government does on smoking. The incredibly staggeringly high taxation on cigarettes more than offsets any long term health care costs - despite any paper arguments to the contrary. Think about it. That 8-10$/day per average smoker, applied towards future healthcare bills with compounded interest over a duration of 40 to 50 years, is making the government rich. Add to this the fact that people tend to die reasonably quickly from lung cancer (under a year) and you realize quickly that you, at the end of your stint as a smoker, had you been privately investing the tax dollars, could pass not only the duration of your final illness but a good portion of your stay in paradise in the finest of Swiss clinics, attended upon by the most skilled of chefs and surgeons, without ever touching the principal of your investment.
This doesn't even consider that savings the treasury makes when smokers die early, leaving behind unclaimed pensions, benefits, etc. that overflow the governments coffers. Or the fact that if you don't die from smoking chances are you'll die of something else, and it just might be every bit as expensive.
It's the government, though, and it's in the business of making people "Feel Good". Simple people. So if you read that news story as well, and thought somewhere in the back of your mind that the tobacco companies were villains anyway and "had it coming", or "it's about time", rest assured you have plenty of company. And your simple.