Clearing The Air

Friday, August 31, 2007

Donald Trump is smokin' mad about ignorant Atlantic City council decision

Trump blames Atlantic City council's decision to ban free market choices (smoking ban) as the reason for the downturn in revenue at his New Jersey casino. But councilmen Bruce Ward and Gene Robinson respond that the casino's reduced revenue is due to Trump's inability to operate a business.

Council members Ward & Robinson conveniently ignore this fact pointed out in an earlier posting:

The interesting thing to note here is that revenue per hotel room increased by 13.3 percent, yet gaming decreased by 8%. Smoking is still allowed in the hotel rooms, but severely limited on the casino floors. Evidently people are still going to the Atlantic City resorts, but smokers and their friends apparently don't stay and spend money where they're not welcome.

Two undeniable facts occur wherever smoking bans are enacted:

1) hospitality / casino business revenues are reduced significantly

2) smoking ban proponents will blame anything but their actions as the cause for those business losses and eventual closings.

It's time to remove anti-free market politicians from government office, and it's high time to remove the pharmaceutical nicotine lobbyists (RWJF / J & J, maker of Nicoderm) money & influence on local government.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Hillary Clinton, tough on smoke......not on terrorists

Senator Clinton's comments regarding a nationwide smoking ban exemplify a general ignorance by politicians about businesses and individuals financially impacted by smoking ban laws.

August 28, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton lavished praise on New York City's tough anti-smoking laws yesterday - and said she supports smoking bans in public places across the country....Clinton noted that when New York's smoking ban was being considered, critics claimed, "Oh, that's the end of, you know, the bars and restaurants in New York City." ......But she boasted, "We are now having more business than ever before......

She is of course, uninformed about the facts:

In Minneapolis more than 120 hospitality establishments closed due to a downturn in business after local smoking bans. (In a typical year before the ban only 15 closed)

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/01/100-bars-and-restaurants-put-out-of.html

MN. State unemployment numbers reflect the business losses:
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/05/minnesotas-unemployment-rate.html

Nationwide nearly 1,000 establishments have closed due to smoking bans.
http://www.smokersclub.com/banloss3.htm

Furthermore, even the World Health Organization confirmed secondhand smoke does not cause cancer:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1998/03/08/wtob08.html

Who then is pushing the smoking ban agenda, and why?
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-drug-industry-uses-non-profits-to.html

Hillary's pro-smoking ban agenda is not the only reason to vote against her for President......the Democratic party's pacifist, liberal, ideology is the foremost reason not to entrust the safety of our nation to a weak, anti-military candidate......but her anti- free market stance does help solidify our resolve.

Update: Vote here against Hillary's nationwide smoking ban agenda, and send the anti-free market politicians a clear message.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Johnson & Johnson Company hires lobbyist to influence lawmakers

Johnson & Johnson paid Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLC $120,000 in the first half of 2007 to lobby the federal government.............The firm lobbied on issues related to patent reform, physician payments, Medicare issues and HIV/AIDS policy, according to the form posted online Aug. 13 by the Senate's public records office..........Besides Congress, the firm lobbied the Health and Human Services Department.

The bigger unreported story however, is that Johnson & Johnson's partner foundation the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has nationally funded local lobbyists to the tune of $200 million + in order to enact smoking bans to bolster sales of pharmaceutical nicotine products such as Nicoderm and Nicoderm CQ, both manufatured by Johnson & Johnson Company's subsidiary ALZA.

RWJF and Johnson & Johnson Company's rent seeking efforts however have a very real, if unintended, consequence.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Rush Limbaugh cites the World Health Organization (WHO) report which found that secondhand smoke does not cause cancer

The report can be found here, but it was originally buried because it did not support the Nicoderm funded mantra that secondhand smoke is the deadliest substance known to mankind.

It's great to see Rush get passionate enough about this issue to highlight the inconsistencies regarding this debate.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

City of St. Paul demands a tax hike for the second year in a row

There is litttle doubt as to one of the main reasons for the budget shortfall. In 2005 DFL St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and the city's anti-business council enacted a business crippling smoking ban. Since the ban took effect there have been numerous bar & restaurant closings, the establishments which remain have seen reduced sales which translates into lower tax revenue collected by the city. It is no secret that the mayor's office has been frantically trying to attract hospitality nightlife back into the city of St. Paul.

Back in 2006 Coleman informed residents that a tax hike of 8.5% was necessary, now in 2007 he informs residents that a 15% hike is required to fill the city's budget shortfall.

These inept and short sighted lawmakers were coerced by the Nicoderm funded non-profits (ALA, ACS, AMA etc.) to enact a smoking ban which caused them and many others to experience revenue shortfalls.....I think it's time to demand the rent seeking lobbyists, RWJF / Johnson & Johnson Co., foot the bill.......though the city of St. Paul will have to get in line behind me.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Blinded by greed and marketing ambitions, the Johnson & Johnson Company sues the American Red Cross

This sounds to me like a PR nightmare for Johnson & Johnson. Suing the first response humanitarian organization (Red Cross) seems to be a petty, and sleazy course of action.

It would be analogous to the AMA or McDonalds suing Mother Theresa for helping the poor and starving.

But then I've demonstrated the sleazy methods that J & J and its partner the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) have used in the past to sell pharmaceutical nicotine products.

J & J / RWJF have demonstrated once again that morals and ethics will in no way interfere with their business plans.

Of course the other consideration to remember is that Johnson & Johnson recently announced a $10 billion corporate buyback of their stock, it's in their best interest to repurchase shares of stock at the lowest possible price. A PR debacle like suing the American Red Cross would go a long way to helping taint Johnson & Johnson's image and reduce share value.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Trump Casinos experience financial losses brought about by the Atlantic City New Jersey smoking ban

Gaming revenue slipped to $249.1 million from $272.9 million. Trump Taj Mahal revenue fell to $122 from $132.1 million, while Trump Plaza revenue slipped to $68.2 million from $76.9 million. Revenue at the Trump Marina dipped to $58.9 million from $64 million.

The company said quarterly revenue was hurt by increased competition from Pennsylvania and New York, the promotional environment in Atlantic City and a smoking ban there.

Revenue per available room -- a metric also known as revpar -- increased 13.3 percent, to $82.51 from $72.85

The interesting thing to note here is that revenue per hotel room increased by 13.3 percent, yet gaming decreased by 8%. Smoking is still allowed in the hotel rooms, but severely limited on the casino floors. Evidently people are still going to the Atlantic City resorts, but smokers and their friends apparently don't stay and spend money where they're not welcome.

This is consistant with findings around the globe, -smoking bans financially decimate the hospitality and entertainment industry as we've seen over and over and over.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/08/washington-state-smoking-ban-is-only-9.html

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2006/07/19/casino-layoffs.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/scotlands-smoking-ban-has-caused-loss.html

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2005/19/c7105.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/01/100-bars-and-restaurants-put-out-of.html

http://www.smokersclub.com/banloss3.htm

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/09/as-mn-house-members-hear-testimony.html

Meanwhile air quality test results prove secondhand smoke is not the hazard that Nicoderm lobbyists have "sold" to lawmakers.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Smoking bans and the organizations that fund them (RWJF) are responsible for the unprecedented increase in home foreclosures

Home foreclosure rates are on the increase as reported here. The effects are now trickling down to put existing homes sales at the lowest level in 6 years.

And as Clearing the Air has reported in the past, the anti free market practice of implementing smoking bans has directly increased not only business losses, state unemployment, but also home foreclosures.