Obama says look at excess regulation – How about calorie counts on menus?

Yesterday, President Obama had an OpEd piece – yes, he really did – in the Wall Street Journal calling for a review of regulations that place “an unreasonable burden” on business. Let’s see if he is serious. How about nixing the stupid part of the health care legislation – a.k.a. Obamacare – that demands restaurants with 20 or more locations put calorie information on their menus?

The idea of course sounds so responsible and don’t ya know Democrats want you to be informed about the nutritional value of what we choose to eat.

But let me put this as blunt as I can. If I want a Whopper with cheese, I want a Whopper with cheese. Federal nanny-state legislation is the definition of an “unreasonable burden.”

Ed Morrissey has some good information about what this regulation is doing to a local chain in Minnesota. He notes restaurants with multiple locations are already posting the information online, the cost can be very high for these stores to change all of their menus and menu boards and, almost every restaurant offers healthier choices to customers.

McDonald’s lets parents and kids choose apple wedges instead of french fries for goodness sakes.

Of course these regulations will not make one bit of difference in what people choose to eat, and a study points this out. Morrissey notes a CNN report.

More from Hot Air…

CNN does a terrible job in presenting this, because rather than just speculate that the 960-calorie choice is “all there is,” they could have just checked Taco Time’s website and looked at the nutritional information. In fact, Taco Time offers a wide variety of choices to its customers, and even in burritos the calorie choices range from a Crispy Pinto Bean (360 calories) to the Big Juan with Pork (650 calories).   Customers can also buy a Crisp Ground Beef Taco (260 calories) instead of a Super Soft Ground Beef Taco (590 calories).   Instead of choosing the large cheddar fries (700 calories), they can order the Mexi-Rice (80 calories).  The fact that ordering behavior doesn’t change between the two doesn’t relate to a lack of choice, but to the fact that customers go to Taco Time for a specific experience and know exactly the nature of the food they eat.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

2 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on January 20, 2011 at 5:13 am

    I wonder when the link between lightweight "McDonald's parents" and membership in the Democrat party will be explored?  Or the abominable education students receive from (wait for it….) liberal teachers?



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