The U.S. Department of Agriculture indicated it will allow a small increase in U.S. sugar imports this year, a decision that is likely to do little to quell complaints from confectioners and processors about tight supplies.So we're going to relax quotas on sugar. We juuuuust couldn't get rid of them could we? No of course not ... that might increase the occurrence of *cue scary music* CAVITIES and competition. Both of which we all know are evil and bad. Morons.
Here is the other bit that really pissed me off:
Mr. Vilsack’s comments raised the prospect of increased demand for global sugar and drove prices up 2.7%, or 0.44 cent, to 16.98 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. Prices for U.S. domestic sugar dropped 2.1%, to 30.8 cents a pound.So we pay almost double for sugar because of all this crap ... and you wonder why your favorite soda has High Fructose Corn Syrup instead of real sugar, which is actually better for you than HFCS.
The sugar lobby has some pretty powerful connections in Congress; this is a perfect example of how a powerful interest group gets its bread buttered while the rest of us get hosed. And to think that this joke has been going on for decades, with congress after congress, with no end in sight.
I remember years ago the calls to avoid sucrose ("sugar") in favor of fructose (the "F" in HFCS). Well, people did and now the activists are unhappy once again. It keeps coming down to the fact that some people want to make certain no one enjoys anything.