The chief executive of the Coca-Cola Corporation is fighting back against the President Obama-New York Times call for a tax on "sugary drinks," reports the Wall Street Journal, which says the Coke CEO, Muhtar Kent, called the tax
"outrageous" in a speech Monday in Atlanta, saying it reminded him of his days as a Coke executive in the former Soviet Union, when he watched the government dictate consumers' choices by stocking only one type of fruit in a store at a time. "I have never seen it work where a government tells people what to eat and what to drink," he said. "If it worked, the Soviet Union would still be around."
Here in New York, the city government is trying to do that not with a tax but with an advertising campaign with posters showing bottles with Coke's red label oozing globs of fat and advising, "Cut back on soda and other sugary beverages. Go with water, seltzer, or low-fat milk instead."
