Not only do we pay American farmers to not grow anything, we also pay Brazilian farmers to not grow anything for our right to do so at home. (The WTO fined the US for cotton subsidies. Congress decided to just pay the fines to foreign farmers, rather than touch US farm subsidies.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil%E2%80%93United_States_co...
Other fun facts include:
1) The US price fixes raisins, to support farmers at the cost of consumers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Raisin_Reserve
2) The US code has a minimum price for sugar. Yes, you can break the law just by selling sugar for less than an amount determined by congress. (Well, nobody in congress reads the thing, so it's probably coming straight from lobbyists.)
This is the main reason that everything we buy has corn syrup in it, and not sugar. (Sugar price fixing combined with corn subsidies.)
http://sugarreform.org/why-reform/what-the-experts-are-sayin...
Many candy factories that used to be in the US have moved to Mexico, because Mexico doesn't price fix sugar.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/04/26/179087542/the-loll...
Experts will dispute this, but I swear Coke (the drink!) and chocolate tastes better everywhere else in the world. In part because they use real sugar and not corn syrup.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil%E2%80%93United_States_co...
Other fun facts include:
1) The US price fixes raisins, to support farmers at the cost of consumers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Raisin_Reserve
2) The US code has a minimum price for sugar. Yes, you can break the law just by selling sugar for less than an amount determined by congress. (Well, nobody in congress reads the thing, so it's probably coming straight from lobbyists.)
This is the main reason that everything we buy has corn syrup in it, and not sugar. (Sugar price fixing combined with corn subsidies.)
http://sugarreform.org/why-reform/what-the-experts-are-sayin...
Many candy factories that used to be in the US have moved to Mexico, because Mexico doesn't price fix sugar.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/04/26/179087542/the-loll...
Experts will dispute this, but I swear Coke (the drink!) and chocolate tastes better everywhere else in the world. In part because they use real sugar and not corn syrup.