Mayor Michael Bloomberg has assured Americans in the past that he is entirely pro-freedom. But his actions belie his words. From gun control to soda control, Bloomberg has become the face of the Nanny State. Now that Nanny Statism has reached a whole new level, with the wealth magnate looking to ban Styrofoam cups and containers, jacking up costs on food providers around the city. “We’re studying all the different things in our waste stream,” said Ron Gonen, deputy commissar – er, commissioner – for recycling.
Bloomberg wants 30 percent of all household trash to be recyclable by 2017, which would undoubtedly raise the cost of living throughout New York, which is already a disaster area for business. “The [recycling] machinery wasn’t really built to handle Styrofoam,” said Gonen to the New York Post. “If something is not recyclable, we want to find an alternative for that packaging or product.”
New Yorkers may be willing to accept yet another supposedly minor Nanny State intrusion. But at a certain point, there will be an unsustainable straw that breaks the green camel’s back.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).