Nanny State: Save Us from Evil Calories!

On April 1, 2010, in Economics, by Henshaw

Nutrition FactsGoing forward, the list of unintended consequences of ObamaCare will be endless. One part of the bill includes a federal requirement for restaurants to publish calorie counts for each menu items. For smaller restaurant chains with large menus this is going to be a very detrimental law and will discourage expansion. For consumers it’s going to mean less choice because restaurants will be forced to reduce the size of their menus.

The pressure of this law will eventually force restaurants like Davanni’s to reduce consumer choice as a way of managing the overwhelming burden of maintaining their disclosures. Smaller chains that succeed in satisfying their customers and managing their business used to be rewarded with growth, but this law will put an artificial cap on expansion at 19 locations. That means that fewer people will find jobs, and even in existing stores, money that may have funded more jobs will instead go to reprinting the same menu boards over and over again. And all of this comes because political elites think that people are too stupid to know that a pizza is fattening or how to access information that already exists in much more efficient formats than menu boards.

Is this law really worth the cost? Are Americans really going to benefit from having calorie counts on their menu at Chili’s? As what point does the nanny state end? Have calorie counts discouraged people from buying unhealthy food at grocery stores? If people want healthier choices at restaurants the market will take care of it. However, progressives do not believe Americans can think for themselves. Daddy Federal Government has to take care of us, or we’ll hurt ourselves.