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Sour Policy

Here’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal:

Worried that his subjects are getting too good a deal on sugar grown in Mexico – and, hence, that his privileged cronies who grow sugar in the U.S. might have to compete more vigorously – Uncle Sam is pressuring Mexico’s government to force sugar growers there to serve American consumers less agreeably (“U.S. Imposes New Sugar Tariffs, but Pact May Negate Them,” Oct. 28).  Let’s re-write a key paragraph of your report to more accurately describe this reality:

“The draft agreement between the U.S. A SMALL NUMBER OF U.S. POLITICAL OPERATIVES and THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN Mexico contains provisions DIKTATS to ensure there isn’t a flood of Mexican sugar FLOURISHING OF VOLUNTARY SUGAR PURCHASES BY AMERICANS that could cause price declines that would be MAKE THE VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS MORE PROSPEROUS harmful to the U.S. industry and its farmers, the HOSTILE-TO-Commerce Department said. That includes preventing imports from being concentrated during certain times of the year AMERICANS FROM BUYING MEXICAN SUGAR AT WHATEVER TIMES OF YEAR THEY WISH, limiting the amount of refined sugar that can enter the U.S. market AMERICANS CAN CHOOSE TO PURCHASE FROM MEXICO, and establishing minimum prices for Mexican sugar producers FORCING AMERICANS WHO DO MANAGE TO BUY MEXICAN SUGAR TO PAY MORE MONEY FOR IT.”

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA  22030

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