Smoking has led to a breakdown in society in the sense that losing family members/friends early can lead to things like depression, which can have huge negative effects on work, relations, etc, and lead to divorce, further depression.
Also, you get a lot of cases of teens who start smoking and the parents find out, causing a greater strictness on parenting, resulting in greater rebellion, can lead to crime, etc.
However, that wasn't my point, I was remarking on the attitude that "indirect" costs don't matter in general, in which the breakdown of society would be a much bigger point.
As for your 8 points: 1 is the most valid, and I think that there should be legislation that all paper should be retrieved from sustainable sources, and the cost of the book would reflect this, thus turning the indirect cost into a direct cost.
3, 4, 5, 7, 8 only effect the person that is reading the book, people who don't read aren't effected by these, thus it's not an indirect cost (or, at least, not the kind of cost I was talking about).
2 is genuine, however, people work more effectively if they are rested. Reading is a great way to relax and rest.
6 is the only one I can't really respond to. So much for dozens.
Yes, you can make these lists for everything, and we should be - it's the only way we're going to turn society into a sustainable one - for actually paying for ALL costs, external and internal.
Your last statement is false. Tobacco duty is under the same band as Alcohol duty and Fuel duty - those two aren't in the minority, these are taxed to high heavens for two reasons: provides short term taxation revenues, and because they are three things which have extremely high external costs.
Existing User Log In
New User Registration
Register for a free account to gain full access to the VGChartz Network and join our thriving community.
