NEWSLINK, V8N4 Summer 2004 In point of fact; news of note

Trapped by the law of unintended consequences
State officials have confirmed what many people who live near streams and other bodies of water throughout Massachusetts have known for some time: There has been an explosion of the beaver population. Arnie Rill, 80, a lifelong resident of Lunenburg who said he has been trapping beavers since he was 10 years old, told the Sentinel and Enterprise newspaper of Fitchburg, “There are more beavers now than I’ve ever seen in my life.” According to Chrissy Henner, a furbearer biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, the beaver population has tripled since state legislation first prohibited the use of numerous animal traps in 1996. Many trappers quit the business after the law was passed, causing the beaver population to increase dramatically, wildlife officials said. “Decline in trapping said to cause rise in beaver population,” Boston Globe, August 2, 2004.

Would you like to supersize those profits, sir?
Call it the Spurlock Effect. By now, Morgan Spurlock’s hilarious, anti-McDonald’s fairy tale, “Super Size Me,” has found a large audience for what is essentially a home video about a guy pigging out on fast food. The movie purports to be a searing indictment of the Evil Hamburger Empire. But is it possible, as my colleague Joshua Glenn suggested to me, that Spurlock has actually helped McDonald’s by reintroducing the art-house-frequenting cinema hip-oisie to the sheer delight of chowing down on a piping hot, grease-seeping Big Mac? Let’s look at the numbers. “Super Size Me” hit theaters in May. Just last week, McDonald’s reported record hamburger sales — in fact their highest sales since 1984! That is worldwide. In the United States, “year-to-date May comparable sales are the best they’ve been since 1973 — the year the Quarter Pounder became a permanent menu item,” according to Charlie Bell, McDonald’s president and chief executive officer. “’Super Size’ matters?”, Alex Beam, Boston Globe, June 15, 2004.

Fair trade pricing power
At a Whole Foods Market in suburban Boston, the coffee aisle recently was lined with leaflets promising to donate 5% of sales to growers. Labels proclaimed that beans were “purchased in accordance with international fair trade standards.” Pamphlets asked: “Is your coffee fair to farmers?” The materials reflect a growing international campaign to pay struggling farmers in poor countries more than market rate for commodities like coffee, bananas and chocolate. The extra cash has helped thousands of farmers fund education, health-care and training projects, among other things. But as “fair trade” catches on in the U.S., Europe’s experience shows that the biggest winners aren’t always the farmers — but can be retailers that sometimes charge huge markups on fair-trade goods while promoting themselves as good corporate citizens. They can get away with it because consumers usually are given little or no information about how much of a product’s price goes to farmers.
“Stores Charge Big Markups On Goods Intended to Help Farmers in Poor Countries: Bananas at $2.74 a Bunch,” Steve Stecklow and Erin White, Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2004.

Hey dude where’s my gas can?
Hybrid cars are hot, but not as hot as their owners, who complain that their gas mileage hasn’t come close to well-advertised estimates. Don’t knock the car companies for inflated claims: Experts say the blame lies with the 19-year-old EPA fuel-efficiency test that overstates hybrid performance. Pete Blackshaw was so excited about getting a hybrid gasoline-electric car that he had his wife videotape the trip to the Honda dealership to pick up his Civic Hybrid. The enthusiastic owner ordered a customized license plate with “MO MILES” on it, and started a blog about his new hybrid lifestyle. But after a few months of commuting to his job in Cincinnati, Blackshaw’s hybrid euphoria vanished as his car’s odometer revealed that the gas mileage he was hoping for was only a pipe dream. Honda’s Civic Hybrid is rated by the EPA to get 47 miles per gallon in the city, and 48 mpg on the highway. After nearly 1,000 miles of mostly city driving, Blackshaw was getting 31.4 mpg. “I feel like a complete fraud driving around Cincinnati with a license plate that says MO MILES,” says Blackshaw, who claims that after 4,000 miles his car has never gotten more than 33 mpg on any trip. The tenor of Blackshaw’s blog shifted from adulation to frustration after his Honda dealer confirmed that his car was functioning properly, and that there was nothing he could do.
“Hybrid Mileage Comes Up Short,” John Gartner, Wired News, May 11, 2004.

Tax reform by a nose?
Lawyers for an Israeli model in Jerusalem have filed a request with tax authorities asking them to make the cost of plastic surgery tax deductible. The model’s lawyers claim their client’s career is dependent on her maintaining her good looks, arguing that a precedent had been set by the entitlement of tax deductions for the cost of suits for businessmen. The model was not named but former beauty queen Tali Lowenthal praised the move. “If models have a nose job to look better for work purposes that ought to be a tax deductible expense just like any other business expense, because a model’s looks and body are part of the business,” she told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
“Israeli model wants tax break for plastic surgery," The Australian, June 6, 2004.

In Point of Fact