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How Progressives Made America Fat

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s legacy is tied up with his soda tax. The billionaire’s campaign against sweets captured the sourness of his two terms in office. While the jokes are ubiquitous, did it actually work?

Bloomberg occupied the top position in New York City government from 2002 to 2013. During that time, the New York City health department recorded that obesity rates rose from 27% to 32%.

All of Bloomberg’s anti-obesity initiatives, from the widely ridiculed bike sharing programs and bike lanes, to campaigns against snacks, soda taxes, stair mandates, and fruit markets, amounted to nil.

Some of these programs have been kept alive during the De Blasio era and all of them are useless.

That’s bad news for the UK where Prime Minister Boris Johnson has embraced the Bloomberg nanny state approach to fighting obesity by banning ads and promoting bike sharing. Bloomberg Philanthropies had spent over $100 million to export his soda tax campaign to South America.

Read the full story from Front Page Mag


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