Interesting, I was just planning to start my own thread on this...
Quote:
Originally posted by Liquor Dealer
I'm not qualified to answer this question for any country other than our own and may not be qualified to answer for it either but my understanding of why there are agricultural subsidies is to protect American farmers from unfair foreign competition.
|
I believe that the subsidies for American farmers is causing grossly unfair foreign competition for third-world farmers. There is no way that these farmers can compete and earn a fair living against the size of the subsidies that American farmers receive.
Lets see the results of these subsidies. It's lead to a huge grain surplus in the United States. Waaaay too much corn and grains to feed the american people. Waay too much even to feed cattle to feed to american people. ( by the way, the energy efficiency in the conversion from corn to beef is extraordinarily inefficient.... ). So much so that states have come up with subsidies for industries that USE corn as some sort of feedstock, such as ethanol production, or the very related industry of corn-syrup production. ( you make corn-syrup, then you make ethanol from the sugary liquid.... )
Too much beef, too much corn-syrup ( which goes into soft drinks... ).... manufacturers need to sell their products... witness super-sizing of fast-food portions and the subsequent supersizing of Americans.........
Many economies in the third world are heavily dependent on agriculture, and a good part of these have imploded, partly due to their own poor economic policies ,and partly due to the cheap flood of American grain in the marketplace... The governments should probably do more to lessen their dependence on primary products, and further their economy, but its hard to do if your people are starving because your farmers are being run out of business and cannot earn a living wage......
It is in America's interests to raise the wealth of the rest of the world. It's definitely not a zero-sum game here, and poverty breeds despair and desperation. hmmm.. i wonder what that leads to....
Its criminal that the world currently produces more than enough grain to feed its population, but millions of people are starving at the same time. Grain is burnt, contaminated, to keep prices up, or used to feed cattle, instead of feeding the starving millions.