Clearing The Air

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

RWJF improperly coerced lawmakers thru surrogates (ALA, ACS, CTFK, etc) to implement laws (smoking bans) that destroyed 165,000+ jobs

The impropriety is that RWJF is closely tied to Johnson & Johnson Company, which manufactures or owns Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit (pharmaceutical nicotine products) as one of J & J's largest shareholders (the only stock that RWJF owns incidentally) and the fact that RWJF board members are former J & J executives and / or J & J board members; RWJF's push to ban tobacco nicotine use, appears to be profit and market driven. As a matter of fact, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN reported that the use of pharmaceutical nicotine products aforementioned tripled after implementation of said smoking bans.

To understand RWJF's interest in sugar bans http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2011/04/question-of-day-do-smoking-bans-and.html click picture to enlarge

Moreover, the real issue with these rent seeking laws is that they unnecessarily destroy jobs and our economy. At least 5,500 hospitality closings are chronicled in these four links: (at an average of 30 employees per hospitality establishment there's a minimum of 165,000 job losses since smoking bans were enacted)

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2012/05/michigan-has-seen-300-bars-restaurants.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/03/worldwide-economic-meltdown-and.html

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

Clearly, it is time to reverse the smoking bans imposed on privately owned bars & restaurants and/or force RWJF /J & J to compensate those of us in the hospitality and hospitality support industries.