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]
Hedgetrimmer replied:
You'll be suprised to know that sugar doesn't grow AT ALL. Its just a saccharide compound. Its not alive! It CAN'T grow!
Hedge, you finally got one right. Although you, and everyone else on this thread, know that the reference is to sugar cane which sucrose is extracted from.
What Google didn't tell you was that you are absolutely wrong in stating that the tropics isn't the best place to grow sugar cane. I believe the term you used in your reply to Nateman was "Whopper".
Sugar cane yield is determined, to a great extent, by the amount and intensity of sunshine it receives. Therefore, sugar cane in the Dominican Republic will deliver a higher yield than cane produced in Louisiana.
Additionally, sugar cane photosynthesizes at a much more efficient rate than sugar beets. Cane has a higher leaf volume and surface area. You can also plant sugar cane very close together which you cannot do with sugar beets. Sugar cane is much more efficient at producing sucrose than beets.
There is absolutely no reason for producing sugar from sugar beets unless you are the government protecting jobs at the expense of consumers.
You're the one telling whoppers.
Hedge thinks that American confection companies moved to Canada because of the cheaper labor, lower taxation and reduced government regulation.
The U.S.- Canada Free Trade agreement went into effect in 1989. American companies could have moved long before NAFTA. They moved because of the cost of sugar. Protectionists like Hedge just can't admit that protecting inefficient industries could have unintended consequences.
Most of the confection companies that have moved were customers of ours. In every case, they made it clear they did not want to move but had to when they looked at what the cost of sugar was doing to their profitability. If they didn't have to pay three times more than competitors for sugar they'd still be here.
U.S. Candy Industry Sweetens As Nafta Ships Jobs to Mexico
That sales surge is behind a shrinking candy work force north of the border. All of the Big Three U.S. candy makers -- Mars Inc., Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. and Hershey Foods Corp. -- operate plants in Mexico. Mars expanded down south in December with the acquisition of Monterrey's Grupo Matre SA. Meanwhile, Brach's Confections Inc. will close its flagship Chicago plant next year and move 1,100 jobs to a plant currently under construction in Linares.
Labor costs are part of Mexico's draw: Mexican workervisirn as little as one-tenth of what workers in U.S. factories earn. Canada also competes on labor costs, thanks to the weak Canadian dollar, which has depreciated nearly 20% against the U.S. dollar since Nafta's passage.
Wow, for someone who makes up facts about NAFTA, CAFTA and the OAS you're suddenly a stickler for detail?
You never answered my question, isn't a lower price better for our consumers?
We're against anything that raises the cost to consumers. So you're against the government paying other countries because we block their sugar?
They'll make out like bandits with American taxpayer's money.
This is an easy one, even for you. So you should be in favor of us not blocking their sugar, right? Wouldn't want our taxpayers sending extra money out of their pockets.
You never did say whether you agree that lower prices are better for consumers than higher prices. So is lower better?
The US sugar progam prevents dumping on the global market, so if CAFTA shuts it down there will be worldwide dumping of sugar as a commodity.
The international food companies who are the principal opponents of America's sugar farmers are manipulating the market place through trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA so they can buy surplus, subsidized foreign sugar at dump market prices.
They don't care if they devastate our national economy in order to do this--
So we'll be able to buy sugar at 6-7 cents a pound instead of 25 cents a pound? This is bad?
They don't care if they devastate our national economy in order to do this--
How does saving 75% on sugar devastate our economy?
Thanks for the ping HT....
|
|
U.S. Rank (Lowest = 1)
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Number of Producing Countries/Regions
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|
Beet Sugar
|
2 |
42 |
|
Cane Sugar
|
27 |
64 |
|
All Sugar |
39 |
105 |
|
Corn Sweeteners |
1 |
19 |
|
All Sweeteners |
21 |
112 |
|
|
|
|
Pardon me, but the U.S. sugar barons and the Dominican Republic Sugar Barons have a lot in common with each other. In fact, they are one and the same, the Fanjul family of Palm Beach, Florida.
To stop the US policy that stablizes global sugar prices--
Why do we want stable prices if that means we pay 2 to 3 times the world price?
Let me see if I have you straight. Someone who donates politically in order to keep his sugar subsidy is a free-trader? I have a new term for what you do: hedge-speak.
But an even bigger reason for the flight of the lollipop and sourball makers is the U.S. price of sugar. Candy manufacturers operating in Mexico and Canada pay world rates for raw sugar -- about half the federally supported U.S. cost -- and can easily undercut U.S. competition. "I just got tired of paying welfare to Big Sugar," explains Greg McCormack, president of Bob's Candies Inc., of Albany, Georgia, which recently opened a plant in Reynosa, Mexico.Everytime hedge "forgets" to link, it's a hoot.
Yes, and they don't care whether CAFTA passes or not really, because they win either way being multinational.
Not discussed are the domestic farmers.
There is no limit to the amount that can be produced so we will be forever freed of dependence on unstable foreign governments for our energy needs. The only problem is the oil will cost around $100 a barrel and gasoline will cost $4 a gallon.
Another benefit is that this money will all stay here in America. Do you think we should make the huge (trillions) investment to start production. It would take about 3 years to come on-line.
Would this development be good for America? Good for Americans? Good for America's economy?
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