"Remember the huge tobacco lawsuits of the late 1990's? Threatened with having to foot the bill for all smoking-related illnesses, the nation's largest tobacco companies agreed to pay 46 statesan unbelievable $206 billion. The idea was that the states would use the money 1) to pay for smoking prevention programs, and 2) to defray the costs of health care for smokers who got ill.
So far, however, less than 5% of the $33 billion paid out has gone to prevent smoking. And it gets worse: several states have earmarked their share of the money to help... the tobacco industry. In North Carolina, for example, $43 million of the $59 million they've received has gone to marketing and producing tobacco, the state's biggest crop. They bought equipment for farmers, built a new tobacco auction hall, and put $400,000 toward a new tobacco processing plant. Other states have used the money won from tobacco companies to buy stock- in tobacco companies."
Where is the accountability? Money that was mandated to help citizens who are suffering the effects of smoking is pumped back into the same filthy, decietful machine that caused the problem to begin with. I thought government was supposed to protect citizens, not invest in their deaths!
(Note: The article in quotes was used by permission and is copyright by the Bathroom Reader's Institute. It can be found in Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader, 16th edition, p. 243. Some of the most fscinating, enjoyable reading I've found.)
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