In the latest abject failure of paternalism, New York City Department of Education regulators have banned homemade goods from bake sales to help curb youth obesity. Their reasoning? That they cannot control the portion sizes or nutritional information for homemade goods. So now at school bake sales well meaning parents and kids will sell Doritos, Fruit Roll-Ups, etc.
Although it is probably impossible to count the ways in which this policy mocks common sense and leads to such absurdities as having a “bake” sale that offers only brand-name junk food, Chidem Kurdas has come up with five, which she argues are extendable to regulations more generally.
