Do You Believe in Magic?
By Anthony Gregory • Wednesday November 30, 2011 10:49 AM PDT • 7 Comments
I protested when San Francisco began cracking down on Happy Meals with its cleverly worded edict to prohibit restaurants from giving away toys aimed at children with food that did not satisfy its nutritional standards. But perhaps I despaired too soon. As it turns out, the magic of the market, the ingenuity of McDonald’s, and the incompetence of lawmakers have liberated the Happy Meal toy from the clutches of the paternalistic progressives posing as public health promoters.
The fast-food chain has figured out how to comply with the ordinance while giving customers what they want: From now on, the restaurant will charge ten cents for the Happy Meal toy, giving the proceeds to the Ronald McDonald House charity. What a heroic way of dealing with those pesky local planners! Parents win. Kids win. McDonald’s wins. And charity gets a boost as well!
Liberty has still suffered, however, since now customers are forced to buy the food if they want the toy. Before, parents could purchase a Happy Meal toy by itself for a little over $2. Because of the way the law is written, this option is now gone—another unintended consequence of a bad law, since now, on the margin, customers will sometimes opt to buy the greasy food targeted by the law just so they can get the toy, when before they would have not bought the food.
Still, the Happy Meal lives, and this is just one more reminder that the market will outsmart the state in ways even those of us always on the lookout will miss. Last year, I was enraged that San Francisco (and my home county of Santa Clara) would wage war on American childhood in this manner. Yet I should have stopped and realized that as horrible as this law was, it was not going to stop the wonders of the market from bringing a smile to all those children.
How excellent that, just in time for Christmas, we once again see the market triumph over the efforts of politicians to destroy what fun is left in this country. To all the Hamburglers and Grinches in the world, I plead that you join in the holiday spirit of commerce and voluntarism, and reject the Scroogish sanctimony of socialistic city planning. Do I believe in magic? Of course I do. We see it every day in the glory of the market economy.
Tags: Civil Society, Culture, Economics, Liberalism, Nanny State, Property Rights, The State 
I don’t believe in magic, but I believe in power to the people so onwards Micky Dees and to all of your thinkers.
vicki joiner | Nov 30, 2011 | Reply
” ... another unintended consequence of a bad law, since now, on the margin, customers will sometimes opt to buy the greasy food targeted by the law just so they can get the toy, ...”
Hmmm, very interesting point.
Can you provide the link to the research showing an increase in the purchase rate of these unhealthy foods as a result of these legal changes? Unintended consequences of government actions are always important to be able to highlight with definitive results.
A great example of unintended consequences after government intervention is the sharp spike in cocaine smuggling and use in the US after the Federal Government began its marijuana interdiction campaign under Reagan.
Ken Little | Nov 30, 2011 | Reply
It sounds like your way of thinking is flawed from the start. No one is forcing anyone to buy their “happy meals.” Parents can just put their foot down and not take their child to McDonalds. IS this just too simple, you have stated that politicians are at fault, McDonalds is at fault, etc. It’s called a FREE society just in case you forgot this. It is not the politicians’ job to tell us how to live, it is their job to do as we say. Too many people like McDs, lots of people don’t like the gov’t telling them how to or what to eat. Get over yourself.
charlie | Nov 30, 2011 | Reply
Ha! Great. Reminds me of a while back they came up with these ‘Alcohol Impact Areas’ with restrictions on 40′s, 22′s and other containers for delicious malt liquor. This silly attempt to save hobos and hoodrats from themselves only moved their traffic to the ‘nicer’ parts of town.
And what did the vendors do? They came out with 24 ouncers, or already had for other markets.
noah | Dec 1, 2011 | Reply
charlie, I don’t understand your criticism.
Anthony Gregory | Dec 1, 2011 | Reply
Anthony
I didn’t get it either. It seemed to me that he was criticizing you for saying something you never said. In fact, you said the exact opposite of what he thought you said.
Phil Dillon | Dec 2, 2011 | Reply
Anxiously awaiting the first American company to sidestep the incandescent lamp ban by marketing them as “100-watt heatballs,” as a German company already has.
Henry Bowman | Dec 6, 2011 | Reply