...just how much money is lost to enjoyable things that finger-wagging middle-class farts disapprove of, such as smoking, drinking, gambling, overeating, watching sports, and the like. The figures we obtained (about which more below), are staggering.
To get a proper handle on this question, we also calculated the social costs of crime, and the monetary losses to businesses from particular crimes such as computer trespass, insurance fraud, shoplifting, and so on. Finally, we factored in unavoidable, mandatory costs such as federal and state government budgets. We wanted to know just how expensive life really is, and just how badly thoughtless, self-indulgent people are stuffing it up.
It turns out that when we allow for unavoidable costs like crime and taxes, the burden to society of our bad habits and voluntary indulgences pushes the cost of living to a sum that actually exceeds the amount of money in existence. And please note: we have not included the costs of health care for diseases and accidental injuries that are not our fault, or the costs of pensions. No wonder the finger-wagging farts are so worried.
Read the whole thing.
Remember this the next time some busy body wants to implement a law to curb some "bad habit" among citizens.