US sugar barons.
Posted on 06/03/2005 4:05:58 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
Edited on 06/03/2005 4:08:49 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
USA Today must be posted as a title and link only. Read article here.
How much are the sugar subsudides now?
And how much will we, the taxpayers, save if the subsudies go away?
How much are the subsidies paid to businesses to outsource and offshore? How much will we taxpayers have to pay before the trade subsidies promoting free trade and the giveaways for "trade capacity building" go away?
"Free trade" is heavily subsidized by the US taxpayer. If we didn't subsidize it, we wouldn't be able to get any countries to sign up for it.
I'd rather subsidize our sugar farmers than theirs.
Dear Mr. President:
I am writing to you today to respectfully request that you reconsider bringing the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to Congress for a vote. If it passes in Congress, it will be another step down the road to disaster for the sugar industry that has been a vital part of Louisiana´s economy and culture for more than two centuries.
Currently, 27,000 people are employed by the sugar cane industry in Louisiana. Sugar cane is produced in 40 percent of the state´s parishes on nearly 600,000 acres of land. The economic impact of CAFTA and other bi-lateral trade agreements on the state will be disastrous. Louisiana stands to lose $750 million in direct sugar sales, as well as $2 billion in industry-related revenue each year. The approval of CAFTA and other bi-lateral trade agreements by Congress will devastate the sugar producing parishes and the economic ripple effect throughout the state will be seismic.
In addition, my concern is that your administration has expressed that CAFTA will be used as a model for several other trade agreements that are already under negotiations. If that happens, the domestic sugar industry will cease to exist. If Congress allows CAFTA and other bi-lateral trade agreements to go through, it will flood the U.S. market with imports from countries with subsidized farming that do not have any labor or environmental standards.
I am not opposed to free trade. However, sugar is one of the most distorted commodities traded in the world and any attempt to fix those distortions will require a global approach. The Louisiana sugar industry joins me in urging your administration to push for sectoral talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO) level. US sugar producers are among the most efficient in the world. They maintain efficiency and relatively low prices despite the significantly higher regulatory costs in the U.S.
I am sending letters to the Louisiana Congressional Delegation encouraging them to vote against CAFTA should it make it to Congress for a vote. I am asking them not to ignore the numbers - 27,000 jobs and $2 billion lost. I am respectfully asking you not to ignore them either, please reconsider and withdraw CAFTA.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Governor
Millions of us peasants used to make a living chopping and picking cotton, damn how I miss those good old days. SARCASM OFF\
At the same time our confection and baking business moves to Canada because of high sugar prices!(Canuck Life Savers anyone?)
Yes, the Brazilian economy is much more important than the economy of a state in the USA, isn't it?
Oh, come, now. We all know we'd be much better off if the USA is dependent on hostile govts. for food and other needful things.
A lot cheaper. And maybe out candy manufacturing would come back instead of going to Canada where they can buy cheaper sugar.
The profit margin on candy is so small any increase in sugar price really effects the bottom line.
America has the chance to cut the amount of money we spend on sugar to less than one quarter of the current amount of money currently spent? We can have a price reduction of 76%?
The sugar tariff is nuts. We pay a big price for it hidden in all of our groceries. How much better would all of our packaged foods taste if they were made with a little sugar rather than 'fructose' (corn syrup). Meanwhile these sugar growers are WAY inefficient.
Those sugar barons get no sympathy from me. We pay over three times the world price for sugar. Ever wonder why Coke and other soft drink makers switched over to corn syrup? Because it was cheaper! I like the old sugar drinks better and miss them.
Leaf Candies, Brach. Lots of historical candy companies have left Chicago in the last couple of years, can't compete while paying for RICH US SUGAR GROWERS to get the benefits of protectionism.
More Info here:
http://www.cwt.org/news/articles/2004%20December/Sugar.htm
They left because NAFTA enabled it. If NAFTA didn't exist, the candymakers wouldn't have gone anywhere.
What is with the class warfare rhetoric by the way? Does anyone complain about the RICH BANKERS who are getting such a sweet subsidy from the federal government to enable them to make money off of illegal alien workers and their remittances? What about the RICH BANKERS who are getting whole sections of the CAFTA, and WTO agreements written for them so they can do business out of country and take no risk for it?
Also, what about the RICH Tech firms that have moved their business to slave labor China because of "Free trade"? Why don't you complain about them?
Don't fall for the class warfare rhetoric of the MSM and the "free traders". There are plenty of RICH bankers, financial service providers, tech manufacturers and lawyers who are making a MINT off the American taxpayer through "free trade".
In addition to the subsidies there are tariffs and quotas too, IIRC. Anytime you try to return to free markets after years of government meddling someone's ox is going to be gored.
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