What I am saying is that we need fair trade, or we will get exploited by the world community. Some subsidies are also not a bad idea. They have provided price stability throughout the years, enabling efficient farming to flourish here. I do not think that we would have a thriving ag community without subsidies. Nor do I think that the rest of the world would become fair with their tariffs & subsidies merely because we eliminate ours. Our system however could use some reform and better policing.
Most people in this forum only talk the abuses of the system by liberal celebrities. That is certainly powerful propaganda, but it is not typical of the farming industry. If all subsidies were gone, these politically connected liberal celebrities would merely be scamming money somewhere else. People here don’t talk about family subsistence farmers who would be wiped out if the price of their crops fluctuated dramatically. They don’t want to talk about how much on average it would add to a typical taxpayer’s grocery bill, or how a larger percentage of each family’s income is being sent overseas. They won’t talk about the job losses and sustainable agriculture. They won’t talk about the country’s dependency on foreign countries for food.
Do you remember in the 70s when we had grain embargoes against the soviets? What happens in 25 years after China has destroyed the farming industry here and then decides that it is their best interest to embargo us?
As for Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa, it sounds like you agree with me. Their problems don’t have anything to do with the price of corn in China. It has to do with bad government. Using Africa as a justification for eliminating subsidies here is nothing but spin.