The worst of these are so-called countercyclical payments, in which the government sets a target price for certain crops and makes up part of the difference if the actual market price falls below it. Countercyclical payments distort trade by encouraging farmers to overproduce and dump their crops overseas at below-market prices. Yet despite adverse rulings from the WTO, Washington continues to claim that these payments are harmless.
Location: land of the Lilliputians, In the state of insanity
Posts: 24,185
RE: WTO takes on U.S. farm subsidies
Dont get ugly about Farm subsides. I really like that yalls tax dollars are going to me to grow nothing. My CRP check pays my taxes on my hunting land every year as well as gives me a little extra pocket money. I kinda like the idea of getting paied for owning land and doing noting with it. Give me a fee place to hunt.
__________________
kaafir mushrik
Unintended consequences and God have one thing in common: Liberals don’t believe in either of them.
"Countercyclical payments distort trade by encouraging farmers to overproduce and dump their crops overseas at below-market prices. Yet despite adverse rulings from the WTO, Washington continues to claim that these payments are harmless."
Saw a special on TV yesterday about the plight of Mexican farmers. One of the reasons for all the illegals from Mexico is US farm subsidy payments. Mexican farmers have been put out of business by subsidized US farm products imported by Mexico under NAFTA. Consumers in Mexico can buy subsidized US farm produce cheaper than the Mexican farmer can grow it.
I grew up on a farm. One of my high school buddies does a lot of paperwork to keep getting his government payments for leaving some of his land fallow every year.
I don't see any reason for any of these subsidies. Farming is a business. We don't subsidize restaurants so they remain in business if they are inefficient or maybe are healthy for a few years but then go bad because fickle eaters go to some new more trendy place. If a farm business makes a profit, good. If it doesn't make a profit, the business fails, just like any other business, or that is the way it ought to be.
I don't understand government supports for crop insurance, either. If the insurance is econmically justifiable, the farmer can pay for it himself. If it isn't economically justifiable, the farmer shouldn't get the insurance and should just assume the risk. Worst case, farmer fails, goes out of business, someone else buys the land, and they raise crops.
If anyone thinks these subsidies and insurance payments are necessary so we don't experience famine and have no food, they are not understanding how economies work.
"I don't see any reason for any of these subsidies. Farming is a business. We don't subsidize restaurants so they remain in business if they are inefficient or maybe are healthy for a few years but then go bad because fickle eaters go to some new more trendy place. If a farm business makes a profit, good. If it doesn't make a profit, the business fails, just like any other business, or that is the way it ought to be."
Bingo. 70% of farm welfare goes to 10 percent of the richest "farmers." Farm over-production has been afact of life since the end of the US Civil War.
"I don't see any reason for any of these subsidies. Farming is a business. We don't subsidize restaurants so they remain in business if they are inefficient or maybe are healthy for a few years but then go bad because fickle eaters go to some new more trendy place. If a farm business makes a profit, good. If it doesn't make a profit, the business fails, just like any other business, or that is the way it ought to be."
Bingo. 70% of farm welfare goes to 10 percent of the richest "farmers." Farm over-production has been afact of life since the end of the US Civil War.
Ted Turner number one on the list! I think he deserves it though. Didn't he fall off or come close to falling off the billionairs list?
__________________
John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
does anyone else think that the subsidies were vote buys ?
or
is it a way to hang on to precious farm land and away from developers greedy paws?
Probably neither, farmers are a very small voting bloc, and land currently in use for farming tends to stay that way when it produces more than it costs to keep it. From what I've read the principle reason for our farm subsidies is so that American produce can compete in the global market. Nearly all foreign countries, France is a great example, subsidize their farming industry far more heavily than we do, so if ours weren't subsidized as well we wouldn't be able to compete. I personally hate it that any business is subsidzed, but until all nations abandon the practice and compete fairly as they should it will be a fact of life.
__________________
Kevin Haendiges
NAHC Life Member
NRA Member
Wildlife Forever Member
GOA Member
Buckmasters Member
http://hunting-indiana.com
WTO takes on U.S. farm subsidies
