Can Sobriety Scuttle the National Economy?

SOMETIMES, a person might wonder why the economy of this country has held up in the past four decades, during which AA has created so many ex-drunks. For example, take the case of the brewers and distillers (no pun intended). Each of us former lushes must have tossed away a couple of G's a year on their bottled refreshments. Unless a method has been found to whomp up the stuff more cheaply, or social drinkers are taking up the slack, the booze and suds vendors must be suffering an acute pain in their corporate billfolds. After all, several hundred thousand AA members, by not spending about $600,000,000 a year on hooch, must be dealing a hard body blow to the trade.