Quote/Chart of the Day: The Sugar Lobby

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Today’s all purpose post begins with the quote of the day. It comes from the LA Times:

From the beginning, fast food and beverage company executives were uneasy about President Obama. He and his wife were known advocates of healthy eating.

That is scary! Advocates of healthy eating could pose a real problem. The industry’s response is our chart of the day:

The entire story is worth reading. As a policy matter I’m not sure whether I support a tax on sugared beverages or not, but in the end it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that the food industry doesn’t want it, they’re willing to spend a lot of money to make sure it never happens, and both interest groups and politicians are unwilling to risk losing their support. So, no tax.

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Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

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