Is There Such Thing as "Small Tobacco"?

i just got done watching a news segment about the ongoing non-smokers war with "Big Tobacco"... a non smoking woman blasted tobacco companies for caring about their "bottom line" because they oppose tobacco tax hikes. Well, YEAH they care about their bottom line... THEY ARE A BUSINESS LOOKING FOR PROFIT.

i've noticed that, despite that this is a capitalist society, that "making a profit" is somehow seen as evil... i see it all the time at the bookstore at which i work. we are a used bookstore, and so we buy books from the public. i often have people yell at me for offering too little money for their books. well see, people, if my store DOESN'T make a profit, then we go out of business. i don't know what my store's profit margin is, but our overhead VASTLY exceeds our profit margin.

but back to tobacco (but sticking to profitability)...

if a bar owner felt that a smoke-free environment would be profitable, they would just plain do so. But you DON'T see voluntarilty smoke-free bars. if you are a non-smoker and you want to have a smoke free bar to go to, START ONE YOURSELF! and then you'll see that no one will show up, and you will shut down because you are NOT PROFITABLE.

the other side of that, though, is "Big Oil". the cost of gas and oil affects the entire economy. it costs me more to get to work, the things i NEED to buy are more expensive because they cost more to get to my town... tobacco is a luxury, but even if you don't drive, gasoline/diesel/oil are interwoven into our lives so much that they are a necessity. Big Oil making record profits while the entire rest of the economy SUFFERS is criminal.