For many years, the federal government has (unconstitutionally in my view) run a program that keeps out lower-cost foreign sugar in order to make nice with the US sugar industry, which is dominated by one very rich family. That program, as Cato’s Chris Edwards points out in this post, is behind the disappearance of jobs in Chicago for people who make candy.
The sugar price support program has gone on for decades, supported by Democrats who say they are so concerned about “the little guy” and Republicans who say they’re for free enterprise. We see here the root of so many problems in Washington: politicians can gain from supporting special interest groups while the costs they inflict on people when they do so are dispersed and hidden.
