Smoking Bans and Private Market

Yesterday we saw how Oregon legislators are being forced to consider smoking bans in bars and restaurants because the free market will just not take a position on the matter.

Oops. That's wrong.

It turns out the free market is already solving the problem. At the end of yesterday's Oregonian article we read:

Some businesses aren't waiting for the Legislature to ban smoking in bars and taverns, including several brewpubs.

The latest is Jake's Famous Crawfish, a Portland landmark since 1892. Beginning Thursday, Jake's no longer will allow smoking in its bar. "The overwhelming majority of folks do not wish to have smoking in the bar," General Manager John Underhill said.

He's not afraid Jake's will lose business; he said the establishments that have banned smoking have increased their business.

"You can't go anywhere from Canada to California and smoke in a bar, except in Oregon," he said. "That's what the guests want."

So private businesses apparently are capable of making a business decision that best represents their interests, and they are banning smoking as a result. It looks like this situation is already being handled.... so what do we need the legislature for?

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Predictably, the Oregonian opines that Oregon is too "tobacco-friendly." This after their own news reporting showed the private market can take care of the issue. But we can't have that, can we?

More: The governor is proposing that the tax on smokers be raised considerably to provide health insurance for insurance-less children in Oregon. He does not say why only smokers should pay for such what will become a new state right. (Thankfully, at least one Oregonian letter writer saw something wrong with this arrangement.) Nor does he explain why people are having children if they are unable to provide them something as crucial as health insurance.