The "Chewable Pampers" commercial on Saturday Night Live last weekend was pretty hilarious, turning brown to green with an eco-friendly edible diaper that comes in three different flavors: "tangy cheddar, spicy lentil, and corn chowder." Gag me with a biodegradable bamboo spoon.
OK, so it was funny--but how farfetched, really? Thanks to our tanking economy, folks are eating crap en masse. Who knew that a pyramid scheme would generate its own food pyramid? Frank Rich took a peek at the ponzi'd-out pantry in his Sunday op-ed in the New York Times:
What are Americans still buying? Big Macs, Campbell's soup, Hershey's chocolate and Spam - the four food groups of the apocalypse.
Matt Yglesias notes that the LA City Council banned new fast food restaurants in Southern LA from opening because of a desire for more diversity in food options, which is causing libertarians to go crazy. How can banning restaurants cause more diversity, asks Cato's David Boaz. That's a good question, and one answered by Tom Slee's No One Makes You Shop at Walmart. Fundamentally, the actions taken by the LA City Council is am embrace of behavioral economic analysis over free market orthodoxy.
