Cost of smoking just increased. How much, why and what does this have to do with Economics?
April 6th article
Monday, March 30, 2009
Cost of Smoking Goes Up
Cost of smoking just increased. How much, why and what does this have to do with Economics?
April 6th article
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25 comments:
As a strong hater of all cigarettes in existence i have mixed feelings about this article. While seeing any product lose its value is a bad thing, i cant help but smile knowing how many people will at least smoke less then they do. However, cigarettes sadly hold a part our economy, and as it continues to fail it will drag down portions of our economy with it. Just another way cigarettes can cause misery =]
This is a good but also a bad thing. Like DanTheMan said cigarettes sadly hold a part of our economy. its true. Not only they are not healthy they are addictive and people still will try their hardest to buy some anyway.
President Obama just signed a bill to raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes from $.39 to $1.01. From an economic standpoint, this is both positive and negative. Positively, this means that the people who are still buying cigarettes regularly are spending more money on the cigarettes and therefore putting more money into the economy. On the negative side, fewer people are probably going to be buying cigarettes, so tobacco industries may be losing money soon.
I really don't know what to make of this. It could be positive, it could be negative. Or it could do nothing to the economy, the cost of tobacco in general that is. Tobacco going from 19 cents to 50 cents a pound and raising the tax to over 1 dollar is ridiculous, and that could change a lot. We'll just have to see what happens.
Finally there is a way to cut down the usage of cigarettes! I must agree with Maria that, yes there is a negative and positive aspect to this. In the article it states that $193 billion was spent on health care expenses. My question is, if smokers were willing to spend so much on their health expenses just because of their addiction to smoking, how many will go as far as to continue to buy cigarettes even after the tax increase? Sure it may hurt the cigarette industry if they stop, but it will save the average smoker a lot of money and save their life.
This is a good thing because the cost of cigarettes are going up which makes people stop buying or atleast cut back on them at least. So I think the prices should keep rising then people will just say " Im Done Smoking Because The Prices Are Too High.
I don't think this tax hike will substantially decrease the number of smokers or the amount of cigarettes consumed. Rather, people will simply keep saying "if it goes up another dollar, I'll quit." The same thing kept getting said about gas prices. It took gas prices to more than triple for the demand to finally make a noteworthy fall.
I see the hike as a purely good thing. It COULD cut the number of smokers and the government gets to make money off these smokers. Yes! More money to pay for our mounting debts with foreign creditors and for all of Obama's social programs!
Tobacco industries are counting less and less on US smokers so I'm not concerned about them taking a huge hit to their pocket books.
i bought a cigarette thing for the stock game soooo....i hope this is a good thing.
i think that it will help i agree with patrick people always say they will quit when then set some crazy goal and then fail. i think there are some things people will keep buying no matter what and cigarettes will probably be one of them.
This Can Be Bad & Good Like Everyone Else Is Saying, Cigarettes Is Always Going To Be Here As Blunt As It Sounds, They Are Not Healthy For You At All But People Still Tend To Get Addicted To Them. Wow Chewing Tobacco 19.5 Cents To 50 Cents Per Pound Sounds Crazy, & Then Total Expected To Be Raised For 4 1/2 Years On Health Insurance Expansion Would Be Nearly $33 Billion. Is So Crazyyyyyyy. Hopefully, This Can Cut Down The Usage Of Cigarettes :)
Cigarettes are really not good but i have to say that i don't want them totally eliminated because if it goes down it will drag part of our economy with it and we really can't afford that at this time.
I do not like cigarettes period. I see that a product losing its value is bad, but i love to know people will be forced to cut back!
On the other hand I know their role in our economy is pretty big. When or if they fail they can tear down our economy with them. However I do not see them ever disappearing people will do anything for a cigarette!
I think that the only result of this tax will be that cigarette companies will be contributing to the financing of Obamas programs. the prices of cigarettes were low for a while anyway and have been this high before. People won't quit their addiction that easil..............y
..this is a good idea because there is a chance that "some" smokers will quit. However, those who are not willing to quit, have to spend more money on cigarettes. They may have to cut their budgets on other things just to buy expensive cigarettes, which is an awful bad idea.
Although it is a good thing that people "might" smoke less, it will hurt the economy. As bad as cigarettes are they are a huge part of our economy and if the industry fails the economy will suffer. I personally am a believer in peoples choice to smoke and think they should not be penalized.
I agree with Patrick when it comes to this article. People will be willing to waste the money to buy these cigarettes because they're addicted. This is a good thing, and a bad thing. It is good because if the cigarette industry gets hurt from less people buying cigarettes, it will affect our economy and make it suck even more. This is also bad news though because people actually are willing to waste this much money just for nasty cigarettes.
As cigarettes continue to rise in price, sure some people will start smoking less, or maybe they might even quit. I do not think that the tax increase will lower the overall percentage of smokers by a lot though. Just as people depend on gas, and still bought it when it was up to $4 a gallon, people who smoke depend on that nicotine, and they will continue to by cigarettes.
Cigarettes are bad everyone knows that. But when you think about it there are tons of people around the world somking. Every dime the smokers pay for the cigarettes is helping the economy. Therefore, the prices go up our econmoy is getting less money. But hey its better for me to breath.
I'm truly happy this has took place. I hate the everything about cigarettes and think it is a very dangerous thing for people to sit around and smoke. So with the price increasing and people not being able to buy them I think this product will soon not exist. It is very sorry that this bad habit is a big part of our economy!
I tend to agree with the majority of the repsonses to this article that say, unfortunately... even with the tax hike on smoking. The majority of smokers will not quit and will continue to pay the high prices for cigarettes. In some ways this is good and in some this is bad. it is good for the tobacco companies that will stay in business and employ hundreds of workers, but it is bad on the consumers wallet. Without cigarettes in the economy, I believe there would be a large gap. The only thing to do is wait and see what happens next. :]
I know for a fact that smoking is expensive. I know this one type of cigs my friend would buy, they used to be like 4.50. Now they are almost 8 dollars just for that one pack! I dont think the economy is stopping her from buying either.
I hate cigarettes. So I dont really know how I feel about this article. But I do know that cigarettes are a big part of economy's support system, and their failure would more likely hurt the economy than help it.
I am happy that the price of cigarettes went up because I do not like them at all. I don't think this will hurt the economy because people will always buy them no matter how high the price gos up just like gas.
I think this will not effect the amount of people buying cigarettes because if people want to smoke, they will no matter what. Maybe a few people will cut back, or they just might look for cheaper things to smoke..
I think it is great let the smokers suffer! But on the other hand the money is going towards the goverment which is pathetic. I think that it is corrupt and wrong.
I think this is an amazingly smart and almost immoral move. The tax being raised that much will obviously help considering the use of cigarettes is quite prevalent, but the tax is being raised on a highly addictive good. Cigarettes are often regarded as one of the hardest things to kick and raising the tax seems a little sly, brilliant, but sly.
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