Day: July 18, 2025

Coca-Cola: The Battleground?

While I do not drink many sodas these days I did enjoy an ice cold Coke in my younger days….and then the formula changed and it did not taste the same….then I found the Coke from Mexico that still uses real sugar and not some concoction of corn syrup….if you are my age you can remember those days when Coke was the bomb.

Moving on.

Donny has fired a warning shot for a new battle he that he has in mind….the Coke you enjoy….

President Trump says he has persuaded Coca-Cola to Make Coke Sugary Again. “I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so. I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola,” he said in a Truth Social post Wednesday. “This will be a very good move by them—You’ll see. It’s just better!” The BBC reports that the company didn’t confirm the change, but a spokesperson said they “appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm” and “more details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon.”

Coca-Cola uses cane sugar in countries including Mexico, so the change would “turn all Coke into Mexican Coke,” Business Insider reports. For the US market, the company switched to corn syrup more than 40 years ago. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed concerns about ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup, though he has also criticized the amount of sugar in American diets, reports Reuters. The BBC notes that Trump prefers Diet Coke, which uses the artificial sweetener aspartame.

Donny has stated that Coke has agreed to change their recipe….but have they?

President Trump surprised a lot of people Wednesday when he announced that Coca-Cola will go back to using cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. The company has yet to confirm, though the Guardian reports that Coke took pains on Thursday to defend corn syrup:

  • “The name sounds complex, but high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—which we use to sweeten some of our beverages—is actually just a sweetener made from corn,” Coca-Cola said in a statement. “It’s safe; it has about the same number of calories per serving as table sugar and is metabolized in a similar way by your body.” Trump asserted that cane sugar is “just better!”
  • A story at CBS News digs into the health differences and concludes that moderation is best for both. “Despite minor differences in chemical structure and metabolism, both cane sugar and high-fructose corn syrup have similar health impacts when consumed in excess, especially in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages like soda,” says dietician Avery Zenker. Both provide “empty calories,” meaning they deliver energy but without nutrients such as protein.
  • The fallout of all this echoed in the business world, where shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland—a top producer of corn syrup—fell as much as 6% before the losses were trimmed, reports CNBC. Another major refiner, Ingredion, suffered a similar fate.
  • The corn industry is alarmed, with the Corn Refiners Association warning that the switch would “cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs,” per Axios. The outlet also notes that the move would hurt Iowa, the top corn producer, and help Florida, the top cane sugar producer.

For once I can agree with something Donny has said….it is better with real sugar!

Then there is the blow back from the Corn industry….

“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn’t make sense,” the CRA wrote in their statement.“President Trump stands for American manufacturing jobs, American farmers and reducing the trade deficit.”

“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.”

While it has been claimed previously that high-fructose corn syrup is more harmful than other sugars, a Healthline article last updated in December 2023 said high-fructose corn syrup and regular table sugar have similar effects on a person’s health, and both are harmful when consumed excessively.

…

In a statement, Coca-Cola did not confirm a full shift to the use of sugar cane.

“We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic Coca‑Cola brand,” a spokesperson said. “More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca‑Cola product range will be shared soon.”

(independent.co.uk)

There you have the back and the forth on this subject…..

What say you about the possible change?

I ask….will that jack the price of Coke up?

Is this another one of Donny’s BS proposals just to get the attention of the country away from this whole Epstein debacle?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Great Wealth Inequality

That time again to look at history when debating the wealth inequality these days.

I for one do not think that this massive inequality is good for the nation or its people….but that is just me.

Let’s look to the Founders of this once great nation….

As the United States reaches its 250th year, the widening gulf between the very rich few and the rest of us has become glaringly apparent. In 2024, the richest 10% held over 67% of household wealth in the U.S., while the bottom half held just 2.4%. This wealth increasingly entitles one to power and privilege: there are numerous billionaires in key positions in the Trump Administration, and some (including the President) have used their public offices for financial gain.

The Founders would be horrified by these developments because they believed great wealth in politics would corrupt and destroy the republic. Those beliefs were shaped by a range of influences: the widely read works by Roman historians who blamed the empire’s decline on a widening gap between rich and poor; radical Protestants who called for a Godly republic with limits on property or even its redistribution in a Great Jubilee every 50 years; James Harrington’s 1656 novel Oceana, describing an island country with a constitution that gave land to all and placed explicit limits on income and wealth; Enlightenment philosophers, particularly John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government (1689), which argued “all Men by Nature are equal” and that individuals should not hoard surplus wealth; and Cato’s Letters, a series written by British “radical Whigs” in the 1720s who, angered by the infamous South Sea Bubble, called for reforms while bitterly criticizing the corrupting ties between wealth and politics.

By the mid-18th century, Anglo-Americans generally believed in the virtues of a “rough” economic equality, that a republic needed to avoid concentrated wealth and great poverty in order to maintain the public good and prevent corruption. These ideals held particular power because they reflected the experiences of most British Americans. Widespread property ownership among white settlers meant that in every province a far higher percentage of white adult men could vote than in England. Even the wealthiest Southern planters needed the political support of their poorer—yet still property-holding—neighbors.

The widespread embrace of these ideas can be glimpsed in the publication of Cato’s Letters in the BostonIndependent Advertiser in 1748. The very first selection included the warning that when a man’s wealth “become immeasurably or surprising great,” the community “ought to make strict Enquiry, how they came by them, and oblige them” to surrender part of their riches. “But, will some say, is it a Crime to be rich? Yes, certainly. At the publick expence, or to the Danger of the Publick.” The Advertiser was edited by Samuel Adams for artisans and laborers fired up by their successful resistance to impressment—the Navy’s effort to grab men for forced service—and concerned about rising poverty in the postwar depression. Sixteen years later, Adams would organize those artisans and laborers into the Sons of Liberty to resist British imperial measures.

https://time.com/7297269/founders-wealth-inequality-could-destroy/

Our Founders were a smart lot….they were well educated and could see what damage the concentration of wealth in few hands could do to this country and the people.

We should learn from their guidance….but will we?  (kinda doubtful)

And the destruction of the middle class continues….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Cognitive Testing: Helluva Idea

The last year of Biden’s admin and the meme was that his cognitive reasoning was shot because of his declining age…..and now with a new  old fart in charge the same meme is being leveled at him as well….and then there are some of the folks in Congress that do not impress me as having all their faculties about them…..so what can be done about this reoccurring situation?

Cognitive testing.

As I stated in the title….I think that this is a helluva idea……but does it go far enough?

There is a bill now that addresses this situation.

The United States is changing fast. Lawmakers are being forced to grapple not just with timeless questions of governance, but often with novel and rapidly-changing policy issues ranging from cryptocurrency regulation to tech monopolies to app-based labor.

That quickly shifting landscape has some doubting whether the country’s aging lawmakers are up for the increasingly complicated task. The issue is stark, with a larger percentage of Congress over the age of 70 than ever before, and a long string of incidents causing constituents to question whether their elected officials are suffering cognitive decline in office.

In response, one House democrat is proposing what Axios calls a “radical solution” to those concerns: mental fitness exams for lawmakers.

The proposal is being raised by Democratic representativeMarie Gluesenkamp Perez, who was elected in 2022 to represent the 3rd district of Washington State.

Last month, Perez tried to pass an amendment to require the Office of Congressional Conduct to produce a cognitive test to assess members’ “ability to perform the duties of office unimpeded by significant irreversible cognitive impairment.”

Go figure, the proposal was widely unpopular with the House Appropriations Committee that voted on it — but Perez is using the momentum to continue pushing the issue.

https://futurism.com/law-congress-cognitive-test

AS I stated I do not believe this goes far enough…..every elected official from president and his cabinet all through the government should be tested regardless of age….in the last twenty years there have been signs that a few elected are showing signs that they have the mental acuity of a garden slug….matters not the party…..all should be tested.

And the results should be made immediately public especially to those that elected these people.

As well as anyone running for office should be given a civics test to determine if they understand the role of government for the health of the nation.

This is a great idea just does not go far enough in my book.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”