I imagine it is pretty clear to most of my readers that the government deregulation begun in the 1980s under President Reagan continues increasingly to give giant corporations license to basically do whatever they please.  (For example, as we have written before, many of today's corporate mergers and acquisitions would have been illegal under antitrust laws only a decade ago — the merger of CitiCorp and Travelers Group to create CitiGroup, for instance, is just totally insane.) Conversely, however, the once omnipotent tobacco industry has suddenly found itself humbled by the continuous attacks of litigious state and federal government agencies.

    It seems to me that American politicians have chosen the tobacco industry to be its sacrificial lamb.  That is, the government is treating the tobacco companies as a 'loss leader'.

     Loss leader, a retail marketing term, refers to a product that is sold far below its true value in order to boost overall sales in a store.  For instance, let's say Sears sells all its Black and Decker appliances at a loss.  The consuming public is lured to the store by the low price of Black and Decker p roducts, and therefore gets the impression that ALL Sears prices are equally low (which, of course they are not).

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   In much the same way, U.S. politicians are throwing the tobacco industry to the lions. Americans today are generally mistrusting of their public officials.  Politicians are realizing that they need to do something to make people believe in government again.  By taking on the tobacco industry, an act with relatively high popular support in contemporary culture, the politicians communicate to their constituents that the government cares more about its people than corporations.  Meanwhile of course, industries, such as agribusiness, chemical and fossil fuel production, are permitted to run amok unchecked — indeed often encouraged — without regard to long term public health concerns.

    A disclaimer: The above does not assert that no politician has a candid agenda against the tobacco industry.  Clearly the hearts and actions of certain individuals in our government are in the right place.  Rather, I refer generally to the overall machine of government, whose members may consciously — or more likely unconsciously — participate in this game. Dig it.