Drunk With Power

"US lawmakers are finally moving the return of the three-martini lunch ... to the front of the national agenda," PR Week reports with considerable satisfaction. "Unsure whether the best way to help their country is to offer pro bono work or to send hefty checks to relief agencies, flacks may put themselves to good use by revisiting their glory days, and by being the first to the trough," it states. "To encourage consumers to spend, spend, spend, Congressional budget-crafting wizards are moving to allow taxpayers to deduct 100% of the cost of a business meal, removing a 1993 restriction that made such meals only 50% tax deductible. ... The motive for the return to government-assisted gluttony is to help the troubled restaurant and hotel industry, and to ease the general business tax burden."