[PGR88]

Did Congress Kill the Twinkie?

Nope. It was still the unions. next question?

[Colonel_Flagg]

Prescott Bush’s fault.

[Enterprise]

Well, there’s a Ding Dong in charge of the Senate, a Twinkie in charge of the House, and a Ho Ho as House minority leader.

[Domangart]

The sugar beet was killed in Sacramento valley by Congress many years ago.

[econjack]

The fact remains that a tariff is a tax and that means money flowing into the federal coffers where politicians get to dole it out. It is this doling out money process (power) that corrupts Congress. The best thing this country could do is throw out the Tax Code and replace it with a flat tax. (Note I did not say Fair Tax.) Friedman suggested 17% on personal income would put us at the inflection point of the Laffer Curve...good enough for me. Now everybody has something in the game and your tax bill is known. No diverting of resources for political gain.

[Dr. Sivana]

Since 1934, Congress has supported tariffs that benefit primarily a few handful of powerful Florida families while forcing US confectioners to pay nearly twice the global market price for sugar.

I would argue that whatever the intent of the original 1934 tariff was, that the MUCH more powerful corn lobby is benefitting as well.

Think of all that products that use high-fructose corn syrup and the regular kind instead of sugar because of these tariffs. We can start with sweetened soft drinks. Obviously, these HFCS sweetened drinks don' help the sugar lobby, but the sugar tariffs encourage use of the cheaper stuff, which is why the Mexican soft drinks use regular sugar, and the U.S. beverage industry is about 90% HFCS. Who benefits? Cargill and ADM.

[Dapper 26]

Sugar? Hostess is out of business because of the price of sugar? That is a stupid statement.

[Cboldt]

Lifesavers candy abandons U.S. plant - June 2002

Manufacturer says high cost of sugar in U.S. prompted exit.

Several hundred workers at the Lifesavers candy plant in Holland, Michigan are losing their jobs, as the company moves production to Canada.

[Yo-Yo]