Governments spend trillions every year on subsidies to a whole host of industries, ranging from agriculture to mining, energy to transport. Subsidies are supposed to contribute to the public good, but do they? In the vast majority of cases, the money, much of it derived from public taxes, is not merely wasted, it is used to wreck the environment. All too often, subsidies go to those who least need them -- frequently to corporations and special interest groups which recycle some of the funds to support the politicians who keep the subsidies going.