1. AP Government and Politics

2.  James Madison, in Federalist #10, first warned of the “mischiefs of faction”  But felt this mischief would be attenuated by the sheer number of interests in a large republic  But what about groups that receive concentrated benefits from participation and operate outside the view of or with the support of the public?

3.  A close relationship among special interests, congressional committees, and the bureaucracy  This community can have very extensive collective power if all 3 sides of the triangle want the same thing  Are relatively impervious to interference from Congress as a whole, the White House, or the Public

4.  Corn has become a victim or its own success. Yields have become very high. What would you expect to happen to price?  The market price is less than the cost of growing the corn. What would you then expect to happen to supply?  Wrong. In order to support the flow of cheap corn, the government gives direct cash subsidies to farmers for the difference between their cost and the market price. How would you expect farmers to respond?  Increase production.  Why does the government do this?  Very strong relationship (Iron Triangle) between Congressional Agriculture Committees, Corn Processors (mainly Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill), and the Department of Agriculture

5.  Who benefits from this Iron Triangle?  Food production is a low profit, small growth business because here are a lot of competitors and limits on how much we can eat.  But processed food solves those problems.  Corn can be processed into a variety of products (i.e. high-fructose corn syrup) which add a lot of value to food processors  Because corn is so cheap these products are very inexpensive on a cost/calorie basis so can be offered in very large sizes (supersizes).  Who suffers from this Iron Triangle?  Unfortunately, this also great increases our obesity and adds to the malnutrition of countless others in the world whose own agriculture cannot compete with cheap U.S. corn.