You have some nerve talking about rent-seekers when some of the biggest rent-seekers in the United States are our sugar producers. LOL
So you’re going to try to claim that US sugar producers have made more money from exploiting regulatory niches than investment banks, mortgage securitization and so on?
Let’s say that this economist’s estimates are correct. That’s quite a leap of faith recently, but let’s stipulate it.
How much have US taxpayers paid for backstopping Fannie and Freddie paper in the last year, for bad paper that the banks offloaded onto the GSE’s? Hundreds of billions of dollars. 10X any amount of “excess” costs of sugar. And those costs will likely be well over $100B next year.
And an economist wants to get his silk panties in a wad about sugar? Holy crap, talk about misplaced priorities.