Cheating Cheaters of Cheatery: The Amazing Story of Brazil's Cotton War with the U.S.

[Haua (Projects Ningmaster)]

Pizza Shirt: http://dftba.com/pizza Planet Money: http://dft.ba/-b6g

In which John Green discusses the insane story of how the United States of America ended up subsidizing the cotton industry in Brazil so that America could continue its own illegal subsidies of its cotton farmers. This year and every year until we end our illegal cotton subsidies, the U.S. federal government will pay $147 million of American tax dollars to Brazilian cotton farmers to make up for our illegal subsidies, which amount to more than $3 billion most years.

There's no question that American cotton subsidies create jobs, but there's ample evidence that the same $3 billion could be used to create MORE jobs, either through more efficient direct government stimulus or through just not spending that $3 billion and allowing private industry to create jobs with that 3 billion in capital. This is (one of the reasons) why economists generally hate industry-specific subsidies.

[Christopher Rios]

Somebody has been listening to Planet Money... and if you haven't, you should.