Everyone’s Business:

In last week’s Business Spotlight, some of Burbank’s cigarette-selling business owners were complaining about decreased sales since the city’s two-year-old smoke-control ordinance took effect, and since the FDA recently banned the sale of candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes.

The article stated one cigar and gift shop “reported up to a 70% drop in tobacco and general merchandise sales since the smoking ordinance took effect.” My question is, why are they complaining to us? Are they asking us to subsidize them; to insulate them from the normal shift in market forces or public demands?

The United States is a relatively free country. We have the right to try to make it big here, to go for the American dream. We have the right to open any legal business and do all we legally can to make it successful. We have the right to succeed.

But freedom abhors guarantees. When we are children, we are taken care of. We are fed, housed, clothed, guarded and loved — but we are not free. It is assumed we don’t have the mature judgment to make sound decisions, and that we need protection from ourselves and the world, so we exchange freedom for guaranteed care and well-being.

Yes, when someone opens a business in this country, they have the right to succeed. But they also have the right to fail. It is assumed that the business owner is an adult who can make mature decisions and be self-sufficient, so they get no guarantees.

When automobiles emerged, buggy makers and blacksmiths went out of business, as did typewriter manufacturers when personal computers became popular. Common air travel doomed long-distance passenger travel by rail. When we learned that asbestos caused cancer, its manufacturers, distributors and sellers went under, as did companies tied to DDT and other banned toxic chemicals. Products and services routinely become obsolete or prohibited, and everyone involved with them must find a new line of work.

According to the Small Business Administration, roughly 50% of small businesses fail within the first five years. When we view the various reasons, it is evident that poor judgment is often a factor.

City after city is passing outdoor smoking regulations. Over the years, the prevalence of smoking has steadily declined. When I smoked in the late 1950s, as I recall, about half the adults smoked. From 1984 to 2005, according to the California Department of Health Services, adult smoking dropped even further, from about 25% to 14%.