One, ensure the retail price of junk food reflects the social cost of its over-consumption.

ECONOMIST: Letters

These are the respectable reasons for bidding up the price of junk.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood

Numerous studies have shown a relationship between the price of food, especially junk food, and body weight.

ECONOMIST: Does a tax on junk food make sense?

It hasn't been helped by the three biggest credit agencies lowering the company's bond rating to "junk, " and the Lumia 900's violently slashed price.

ENGADGET: Nokia's Q2 2012 financials: 4 million Lumias sold, $1.01 billion dollar loss

Still, with the Federal Reserve buying bonds and pushing down yields on all fixed-income investments, investor appetite for junk bonds may continue unabated even if the opportunity for price appreciation is limited.

WSJ: Is It Time to Trash Junk Bonds?

There's the doomsday scenario, says Merrill Lynch analyst John Casesa: If the price war persists, the Big Three's credit ratings could fall to junk levels, increasing their cost of borrowing.

FORBES: Price War

Over the last four years, the price of the healthiest foods has increased at around twice the rate of energy-dense junk food.

ECONOMIST: A shortage of healthy food is not the only problem