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Since one of the main components of chocolate is SUGAR, take a look at the WSJ under ag commodity prices. You will notice two prices for sugar. There is a WORLD price and a USA price. I dunno what today's price is b/c I don't trade sugar any more. For years the world price was about 3-5 cents a pound, yet the US price was 22-26 cents a pound. That is a 700% difference in the main commodity that makes up your production cost! (it is also the reason why, if you go to latin america, the cokes there taste GREAT compared to the usa. bottlers here use corn syrup b/c sugar is more expensive. latin america uses world price sugar and the flavor difference is noticeable). Move a confectioner offshore and you reduce your commodity costs by a factor of 88%.

We could give every sugar farmer in the USA a condo in Boca, a porsche and 75 thousand a year to QUIT RAISING SUGAR and the rest of the population would be better off. So why do we do it? Simple. Some congressman in Florida and Louisana paints a lugubrious story of the valiant American farmer, toiling against the odds of nature and the greed of foreign farmers, who beat the darkies working in the sugar fields and who pay them less than 2 cents an hour blah blah blah.

The market SEEMS harsh, but in the long run it is ruthlessly kind. Market societies adapt, thrive, and prosper. Protectionist societies like Europe and increasingly the USA wither, lose their wealth, and more importantly, lose the ability to produce wealth. Getting misty eyed over the Star Spangled banner won't change that basic truth.

Since one of the main components of chocolate is SUGAR, take a look at the WSJ under ag commodity prices. You will notice two prices for sugar. There is a WORLD price and a USA price.

I know this. In spite of this, Hershey Corporation is profitable. Could they be "more" profitable? Sure. Lobby Congress to level the playing field, instead of climbing in bed with the commies. Funny how that works here in America.

I don't see where you answered my question though. Did your FRiends dad and the hundreds of others head out themselves to the "business" paradise or did THEY choose to hang around this hellhole called the USofA? Please answer. Thanks in advance. Blackbird.

Very well said. What is really interesting is that the protectionist subsidies are the root cause of this issue. As you mentioned, the argument is that we can’t compete against there workers who toil for dollars a day. The result is artificially high prices and then companies moving to where they can get lower prices for products they need.

The irony is that now others want to put more artificial barriers in place to prevent companies from leaving. They are trying to “solve” the problem, if it is even a problem, by enacting the same types of barriers that caused the problem in the first place.