11 Ways the Government is Making you Poorer
Tariffs- Tariffs are placed on imported goods to restrict trade and limit consumption of imports. Usually this is done to protect or bolster the local economy. But it often has unintended consequences. Take corn, for example, which the US heavily subsidizes. Subsidization led to an overabundance of really cheap corn. The advent of High Fructose Corn Syrup gave the industry a way to convert some of the extra corn into sweetener. The only problem was the product was bitter and inferior to cane sugar. So, the US decided to place a tariff on sugar, to ensure corn’s supremacy. Only soon consumers decided they didn’t like HFCS as much and began buying imported Mexican sodas and brands that still offered sugar. Not only is that a loss to US soda manufacturers, it was taking more money from Americans, as their cups of coffee or anything with sugar saw price increases.
