subsidizing damage

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Mar 27, 2007

Suppose scientists found that a certain kind of breakfast cereal was associated with behavioral problems in young children.

Suppose they found that 2.3 million American children eat that cereal every day.

Suppose the cereal's manufacturers received huge tax subsidies, and the children's parents wrote off their cereal purchases on their tax returns.

That would be a big story, wouldn't it? A screaming headline on the top of the front page, no doubt.

But the scientists weren't talking about breakfast cereal. They were talking about day-care centers.

Do you want to be the politician who calls for cuts in day-care funding? Do you want to be the editor who mounts a crusade against the mistreatment of children?

Forget the front page. At the New York Times, for example, this story was buried on page 14.