Sunday, November 25, 2012

EDITORIAL: Obamacare’s pizza price

It’s well established that Obamacare is sending the cost of health care skyrocketing. What’s less known is it will make trips to the grocery store more expensive and drive up the cost of pizza. All this is happening because nanny state zealots slipped a zinger into the measure just before it came up for a vote. A provision requiring restaurant menus to display calorie counts might seem like a minor addition to legislation representing the takeover of one-sixth of the economy, but the seemingly simple addition will cost billions. President Obama’s own Office of Management and Budget listed the menu display imposition as the third most burdensome statutory requirement enacted that year, forcing retail outlets to expend 14,536,183 work hours every year just to keep Uncle Sam happy. Instead of applying the menu rule just to restaurants, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided on its own initiative to sweep certain convenience stores and pizza delivery storefronts under the calorie-count requirements. FDA bureaucrats are even micromanaging compliance, down to determining the sizes of fonts that can be used on menu signs. Small-business franchisees will bear the majority of the burden. “If they want to put in new products or change pricing or add new toppings, they have to buy new menu boards,” said Jenny Fouracre-Petko, director of legislative affairs for Domino's Pizza. “That’s where it gets expensive.” It will also become confusing, as the boards must convey the calorie counts for the 34 million possible topping combination that the chain offers. Never mind that most customers order pizza over the telephone or through the Internet. Never mind that Domino's already has an online calculator for weight-conscious customers to figure out calorie counts. Mr. Obama’s minions demand things be done their way...more

Brought to you buy the Prince of Pizzas & Price Increases 

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