The Candy Man Cans!
It’s usually just conservatives who wring their hands when free markets are threatened and clap them when there's deregulation. But here’s a case where just about everyone should agree: American workers losing their jobs because of protectionism is a very bad thing - and what's especially bad about Fannie May, Marshall Field’s, and Brach’s closings is the root cause…
This news comes as no surprise, but that doesn't lessen the pain for the 625 factory and office workers at the plant who are losing their jobs. Nor does it alleviate the anxiety of Chicago area chocoholics who worry how they will get their Fannie fix if the corner store closes. And even if the store remains, will Fannie still taste like Fannie if it's made elsewhere?
Chicago is still the nation's candy capital, but candymakers have been moving out of town for years. Marshall Field's stopped making Frango Mints here five years ago and Brach's Confections just last week completed the shutdown of its cavernous West Side candy plant, which once employed more than 3,500 people.
The main culprit in this steady exodus is the price of the main ingredient in many candies: sugar. The U.S. government guarantees a minimum price for domestic growers of sugar cane and sugar beets by limiting imports and buying up excess production. Because of that, sugar here costs more than twice what it would if more foreign sugar were allowed into the country. The result of this protectionism is that candymakers, which are huge consumers of sugar, are moving to Canada and Mexico--that's where Brach's went--for cheaper sugar.
Unlike the export of manufacturing jobs due to cheap foreign labor brought on by NAFTA, these people are losing their jobs because our tax dollars are being wasted to artificially inflate the price of US-produced raw materials! Hey Mr. Conservative! – Key words: “taxes” and “protectionism.” You too, Mr. Liberal, wake up! – Your words are “jobs” and “lobbies.” Get together, discuss. You’re both half right.
I suspect this Yosemite Sam silliness has something to do with "punishing Castro," but the bullets are hitting our own foot. Who will buy our subsidized and overpriced sugar when the only markets for it are in other, more sensible countries? Practice makes perfect, so do it where you preach. We wouldn't mind lower sugar prices, not at all, if it meant keeping our jobs so we could afford an extra trip to the dentist.
2:35:06 PM 
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