Author John Green tells off pennies in this excellent video:

I’m always amazed at how neatly the concentrated interests that benefit from government subsidies exploit ignorant sentimentality to their benefit. Big Penny isn’t the only culprit — see also the Big Ag (family farms need government support!) and Big Defense (our troops need wildly overpriced military hardware!).

— Tim Fernholz

Tim Fernholz is a former staff writer for the Prospect. His work has been published by Newsweek, The New Republic, The Nation, The Guardian, and The Daily Beast. He is also a Research Fellow at the New America Foundation.