“…laying out the case for a soda tax…”

Taxing unhealthful foods has its appeal. So, too, does pulling subsidies from corn and grains. But at some point, it may begin making sense to subsidize health foods, too. This is not a new strategy. We subsidize home ownership because we want people to own homes. We subsidize health insurance because we want people to have health insurance. We subsidize education because we want people to go to school. Last I checked, we also wanted the populace to be healthy, and for our health care costs to go down. And with prices the way they are, the deck is really stacked against that absent some sort of government intervention, at least when it comes to low-income families.