Maddie Binning, Chapter 8, Question #7

This chapter introduced the idea of interest groups. It opened my eyes to the societal issue of taking political positions at face value. The fact that so much money goes toward the ethanol subsidy, for example, seems absurd, but that doesn't stop it from happening. It almost makes me wish you could set the country down for a lesson in economics and doing the proper research. I wonder how much money the country could be putting towards other more worthy causes if they discontinued subsidies that benefit very few people. Logically, it would seem that this would also boost the economy by forcing those who subsisted on these subsidies to pursue other professions and specialize in newer technologies. However, they may be too simplistic a view. It still stands that the public needs to pay more attention to the information behind certain policies. (ex. Ethanol is good - or is it?, Raising the minimum wage would help low income workers - or would it?)