Critics of the U.S. sugar program continue to bang the drums of repeal up on Lake Wobegon, where all sugar farmers are exceptionally productive and compete in a totally free market with no outside interference by any governments anywhere. We now return you to Planet Reality… India’s government forces Indian sugar mills to pay Indian […]…
In a recent column published by Forbes.com, Tim Worstall, author of “23 Things We Are Telling You About Capitalism,” explains how India’s sugar subsidy programs are distorting the global market. The big underlying problem is government price-fixing… “Each year the federal government and states fix the price at which (sugar) mills can buy (sugar) cane […]…
The best laid plans of those who detest U.S. sugar policy, but salivate over sugar-sweetened food profits, renewed their congressional efforts to hobble, if not permanently disable, our domestic sugar industry this month. Alas, the USDA just gave their efforts the ol’ ice bucket challenge routine. Last week, the Capital Press reported that the USDA […]…
(Chuck Muth) – The American Sugar Alliance sent the letter reprinted below to all new Members of Congress last week. We thought it worthwhile to forward to every Member… Dear Member of Congress: As Congress debates agricultural issues during the coming session, you may be called upon to vote on the future of the country’s […]…
(Seton Motley) – Hershey’s – the candy man — is a BIG business. Its May 2014 market cap was $23.26 billion. And Hershey’s is very generous with government. Through the second quarter of last year, it had spent $8,332,000 on lobbying and $845,534 on candidates and elected officials. Those are sums no Mom & Pop Candy Shoppe can come close […]…
Leslie Joseph of the Wall Street Journal reported this week that “Raw-sugar futures are up about 10% this year, even as most commodities continue to decline.” Joseph explains that “Sugar’s gains come amid dry weather in No. 1 producer Brazil, which is expected to result in the smallest global surplus of the sweetener in five […]…
In a recent op-ed published by Reason.com, Greg Beato beats the same drums anti-sugar natives here in the U.S. have been beating for decades. Abiding by the Rule of Three, let’s “reality check” a trio of his main points… 1.) Beato maintains that “consumers are getting screwed” by the U.S. sugar program that prevents artificially […]…
How do you boost the cost of sugar in India without boosting the cost of sugar in India? Simple. If you’re the Indian government you jack up the cost of government-mandated ethanol, and sugar prices will zoom to the moon on their own. In what the Economic Times characterized as a “bonanza for sugar mills,” […]…
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and the sugar’s always sweeter on the other side of the globe. At least according to critics of the U.S. sugar program. A recent story in the Wall Street Journal (“US Sugar Soars Above World Prices,” 12/7/14) notes that the price of a […]…
College football’s Sugar Bowl, played in the New Orleans Superdome, is the second oldest bowl game in the country. It – along with the Orange, Peach and Cotton Bowls – reminds us of just how important agriculture is and always has been to the U.S. economy, especially in the south. Indeed, a recent story by […]…