"The price of sugar in the U.S. is nearly double the world market price. This is not because America's roughly 4,500 sugar beet and sugar cane farms don't produce enough to meet the demand. Instead, it's the result of a convoluted price-control program, begun during the 1930s, that enriches an elite group of growers in a handful of states while costing taxpayers on average $11.5 million a year. The average American family pays another $40 on groceries every year. Here's how it works. Every year, Agriculture Department bureaucrats set the maximum output of every sugar producer. The feds then buy the surplus, i.e., anything in excess of the output level, from domestic producers-some of the top-producing states are Minnesota, Louisiana, Idaho and Florida-and sell it at a loss to ethanol plants. They also offer processors non-recourse loans, and if the price of sugar falls below a certain (arbitrary) point, the loan can be repaid in sugar, some of which is also sold to ethanol plants at a loss. As if domestic price-fixing by the government-here, driving prices up by setting production limits-weren't enough, the feds then set a limit on sugar imports, and punish any imports above that limit with heavy tariffs. The sugar-policy beneficiaries have also sold a protectionist, big government tale to some politicians who are otherwise conservative: They claim that we should stop subsidizing these sugar growers only when the rest of the world stops subsidizing theirs. This so-called "zero for zero" argument is based on the false premise that America's sugar subsidies are good for the economy, when in fact they hurt our economy by sending jobs overseas and take money out of taxpayer pockets. " 1 a. Why is the U.S. price of sugar roughly double the world price? b. Evaluate the statement, "The so-called 'zero for zero' argument is based on the false premise that America's sugar subsidies are good for the economy, when in fact they hurt our economy by sending jobs overseas and take money out of taxpayer pockets." c. Do U.S. sugar subsidies reduce U.S. economic welfare? Explain.