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Non-Tech : Philip Morris - A Stock For Wealth Or Poverty (MO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: md1derful who wrote (1859)	6/20/1998 12:57:00 AM
From: Jim Lou	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6439

Just watched TV: medical evidence may link smoking with Alzheimer (spel, sorry). Boy... So, putting the sergent general warning on the pack just does not protect companies at all?

To: md1derful who wrote (1859)	6/20/1998 8:16:00 AM
From: Rarebird	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6439

RJR Head Says Tobacco Bill Is Dead: Friday, June 19, 1998; 8:02p.m.EDT Memphis, Tenn. (AP)--RJR Nabisco Chairman Steven F.Goldstone on Friday described congressional attacks on the tobacco industry as assaults on free speech and equal rights and said he sees little chance of a new tobacco bill anytime soon. Goldstone spoke at a gathering of black newspaper publishers, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, two days after a tobacco bill aimed at reducing teen-age smoking was derailed by Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate. He blamed the collapse of the legislation, which would have settled three dozen state lawsuits against the industry seeking to recoup the cost of treating sick smokers , on rapid anti-tobacco activists and politicians looking for " a pot of gold " filled by cigarette taxes. " At the moment , I don't think there's anything to negotiate," Goldstone said, after speaking to the newspaper publishers. " I don't know that there is anything that looks reasonable on the horizon." The bill would have raised cigarette prices by $1.10 a pack, more tightly controlled cigarette advertising and forced tobacco companies to pay heavy fines if teen smoking did not decrease. It would have cost $516 billion over 25 years . Goldstone said, however, that the total cost would be more like $800 billion, based on estimates he has seen. " They thought they could target 47 million adult taxpayers and raise $800 billion in new taxes, and nobody would notice," Goldstone said. Well, obviously, the American people noticed, and they wouldn't stand for it." The tobacco industry should not be told how it can advertise its products and should not be targeted for high taxes, he said. " Your interest in free speech and civil liberties should be especially concerned when politicians, who are sworn to uphold the Constitution, seriously propose a law that would violate it," Goldstone said. When asked, " How can you ignore the fact that tobacco products are responsible for many of the health problems in the black community?" Goldstone said selling cigarettes is a legal business, and adults should be free to smoke if they choose to. The object of tobacco legislation, he said, should be " making sure you don't have underage people making decisions whether to smoke."

To: md1derful who wrote (1859)	6/21/1998 9:00:00 AM
From: Rarebird	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6439

Why Slick wants to give the Tobacco Industry liability protection?: TIME DAILY: June 20, 1998: " How the White House Got Smoked: Without the McCain tobacco bill, a lot of Clinton's budget plans are up in flames." Washigton: " The crib death of John McCain's 568 billion anti-tobacco legislation has left the White House facing both financial and political poverty for the rest of the year, says Time White House correspondent Jay Branegan. Not only was Clinton banking heavily on the revenues from the Senate antitobacco legislation as a way to fund some programs that are very important to him, Branegan says, but he's out of political capital as well. The bill was a White House dream: It struck a blow for teen smoking , made nice with the soccer moms, and also paid for about 10 billion of extra goodies in Clinton's 1998 budget. It was a win-win that turned, with a bang of Trent Lott's gavel, into a lose-lose. And although Newt Gingrich is suddenly making noises about antitobacco in the House, you can bet that whatever emerges from the Republican leadership will be carefully crafted to give Clinton neither money nor plaudits enough to sustain the appearance of second-term activism that Clinton so desperately wants. All he's got left is the China trip, says Branegan. It doesn't get any more no-win than that."