Forum Post: The Iron Triangle and the corruption of American Politics

The iron triangle is a model used by political scientists which illustrates how a bureaucracy can be hijacked to serve the interests of a special interest group often forsaking the public good and in some cases diverging from the original congressional or executive mandate that the institution was created to implement.

The Fanjul brothers of Florida are one example of the iron triangle. Often referred to as the Florida sugar barons. These two brothers control the majority of the sugar production capacity in America. Americans pay quite a bit more for sugar than the rest of the world because there have been policies such as import quotas put in place to protect the domestic sugar industry.

Protective measures which many economists argue have a negative effect on the economy are usually only implemented to save American jobs and protect a given industry. The problem is that the sugar industry is highly mechanized in this country meaning there aren't that many jobs related to the industry.

In the 2000 election the Fanjul brothers one democrat one republican gave campaign contributions to both Al Gore and George Bush, either way they couldn't lose. The end result of their lobbying is that they have amassed a huge fortune protected by the US government payed for by the American consumer in the form of inflated sugar prices.

One agricultural industry that is labor intensive meaning it requires a lot of workers, that would benefit from protectionist measures, but that receives no such protection is the tobacco industry. Tobacco built America George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew the cash crop.

I personally made money from the time I was 15 up to last year working on my uncle's tobacco farms. But due to foreign competition the American tobacco farmer may soon be a thing of the past. In 2007 tobacco companies bought about half of the tobacco from American farmers that they had purchased per annum in the late nineties, making up the difference in cheaper imported tobaccos from China, Turkey and other developing nations.

The American farmer and farm laborers would benefit from protection by the government either in tariffs or import quotas but the government isn't interested in helping the little guy these days. But if your are two wealthy brothers from Florida you can manipulate the democratic system to ensure your wealth at the expense of the American people.