Anna Anderson, Chapter 8, Question #4

At the beginning of the chapter, Wheelan talks about international trade, and how it is crucial to the welfare of everyone, everywhere, and goes on to say that even though most economists agree with this statement, there is still widespread antiglobalization protest, and it takes forever for Congress to pass anything relating to it, but while this is taking place, pork barrel legislation (which is when government spending goes towards small, local projects) is rampant. An example of this which Wheelan brought up is Mohair farming. It made sense to have a subsidy on Mohair when it was being used in Army uniforms, but it is no longer used, and we keep setting aside money for it. I think that the issue of pork barrel legislation seems fairly controversial because oftentimes, subsidies help many people, but we are still spending money of things that are not of use to the general populace anymore, and that is when the issue begins.