Bloomberg's Tobacco Investment

After leaving office, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will stop using government to discourage people from smoking and start using his own money—to support organizations that lobby the government to discourage people from smoking. The New York Times reports that Bloomberg has promised $125 million "to build a global antismoking campaign" featuring New York–style smoking bans and New York–style cigarette taxes. "Once governments take tobacco seriously," says an approving Canadian epidemiologist, "they can figure out that there are a few really effective interventions." According to the Times, these include "clean-air laws that restrict public smoking." You didn't believe all that talk about protecting the health of innocent bystanders, did you?