• About Us
  • Activity
  • Advertising
  • Books
  • Business
  • Contact
  • Dashboard
  • EB5
  • Entertainment
  • feedback
  • Forgot Your Password?
  • Government
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • Login
  • Members
  • Meme generator
  • National
  • Nevada
  • Nevada News and Views
  • Newsmax
  • NN&V Ads
  • Opinion
  • Pick a New Password
  • Politics
  • Polls
  • Privacy Policy
  • Profile
  • Recent comments by me
  • Recent comments on my posts
  • Register
  • Submit post
  • Subscribe
  • Subscription Confirmation
  • Survey
  • Survey
  • Terms of Service
  • Today’s Top 10
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Welcome!
  • Yop Poll Archive
Nevada News and Views
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact
  • More
    • Nevada
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Travel
    • News
    • Sports
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Pinterest

  • RSS

Business

Bovard’s Insulting Face-Slap of U.S. Sugar Farmers

Bovard’s Insulting Face-Slap of U.S. Sugar Farmers
N&V Staff
March 13, 2017

(Chuck Muth) – James Bovard is a well-known and highly regarded free-marketer, so it’s highly disappointing to see him attack the U.S. sugar program using arguments that could easily be described in the vernacular of the day as “fake news.”

Mr. Bovard’s column last week was titled, “Why Americans Pay Triple the World Price for Sugar.”  A claim that simply isn’t true.

U.S. food manufacturers currently pay 28.5 cents for a pound of sugar, according to USDA data.  The current world price is 24.9 cents – hardly three times cheaper, as Mr. Bovard attests.

In addition…

1.)  Global sugar prices are anything but stable.  Lower prices today could well be higher prices tomorrow.  On the other hand, domestic sugar prices in the United States have been VERY stable.

In fact, the price of domestic sugar today is almost identical to the price of domestic sugar back when Ronald Reagan was president – over 30 years ago.

2.)  Unlike domestic sugar, the global sugar prices often quoted by critics don’t include transportation costs.  When apples are actually compared to apples – with shipping – any price advantage for foreign competitors becomes negligible at best.

Mr. Bovard then goes on to gratuitously make the incendiary claim that “American farmers cannot compete with foreign sugar growers,” and refers to the U.S. sugar program as “America’s least efficient welfare program.”

Wrong on both counts.

American sugar farmers can compete with – and beat! – the best in the world…providing everyone is playing by the same rules.  But the global sugar market is anything but a level playing field.

Indeed, it is perhaps the most distorted commodity market on the planet.

Unlike the U.S. – which provides zero government subsidies for domestic sugar producers – foreign competitors regularly subsidize their comparatively inefficient sugar industries.  The U.S. sugar program only establishes import quotas and tariffs on such foreign competitors who “cheat.”

In addition, U.S. sugar policy is about as far from a “welfare program” as you can get.  American farmers get ZERO dollars in government subsidies.  At best some receive loans which are repaid – with interest.

Mr. Bovard did get one thing right in his commentary though: “The only way to fix the sugar program is to abolish it.”  On that overall objective, we agree.  Where we disagree is the means to the end.

Mr. Bovard believes the U.S. should unilaterally end the U.S. sugar program without requiring foreign competitors to cease their subsidy programs.  We believe the best strategy is to zero out our program in exchange for them zeroing out theirs simultaneously.

Fair.  And balanced.

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and publisher of Nevada News & Views

Prev postNext post

Related Itemsbusinessgovernment
Business
March 13, 2017
N&V Staff

Related Itemsbusinessgovernment

More in Business

Graves: Don’t Allow Subsidized, Foreign Sugarcane to Enter U.S. Markets

N&V StaffNovember 1, 2022
Read More

Conservatives Should Not Surrender on Sugar

N&V StaffOctober 7, 2022
Read More

Sugar Growers Outraged by New Study Showing Big Candy Posting Big Profits

N&V StaffSeptember 26, 2022
Read More

Behold the First Truly Post-Trump Farm Bill – Properly This Time, DC Conservatives

N&V StaffSeptember 19, 2022
Read More

Food security issues, farmers’ pessimism greet the 2023 farm bill

N&V StaffSeptember 16, 2022
Read More

Runaway inflation puts American food security at risk

N&V StaffSeptember 14, 2022
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Subscribe Free By Email

Looking for the best in breaking news and conservative views? Let Chuck do all the work for you! Subscribe to his FREE "Muth's Truths" e-newsletter.

* indicates required
Nevada News and Views
Nevada News & Views is an educational project of Citizen Outreach Foundation, a non-partisan IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organization. It is not associated or affiliated with any political party or group. Nevada News & Views is accessible by the public at no cost. It funds its operations through tax-deductible contributions from donors and supporters and does not accept government money or grants.

TAGS

Featured Article Nevada Politics business Muth's Truths government Opinion Government Muth’s Truths Obama Ron Knecht News Donald Trump GOP Republicans

Copyright © 2022 Citizen Outreach | Maintained by VirtualAlly

Minimum Wage: WWTJD (What Would Thomas Jefferson Do?)
What the Las Vegas Garbage Contract Has in Common with King Tut’s Tomb