There is no scarcity of food in America and food prices are at historic lows. Agricultural price supports ensure a stable food supply and prevent dangerous deflationary forces from wrecking havoc in our economy. We learned this lesson the hard way during the depression. Agricultural price support is good for America.
“food prices are at historic lows”
What planet to you living on.
And cool, more top down management of the country from DC is going to make “America Great Again”...
While in principle I disagree about price supports but you are correct about the supply. Ethanol programs are a dif matter tho.
".....[Donald] Trump: This is the best time to think like a champion. As an example, the house is being foreclosed. You go see your bank -- maybe you can make a deal, maybe you can't. But you can make a deal with a bank on another house, and much better than the one you're living in. ... They'll do any deal to get rid of their product.
They have houses by the thousands. And you go see that bank and you make a deal.
[Larry] King: How do you assess [Barack Obama]?
Trump: Well, I really like him. I think that he's working very hard. He's trying to rebuild our reputation throughout the world. The previous administration was a total disaster, a total catastrophe.
And, you know, the world looks at us differently than they used to. ... He was handed a pretty bad deck of cards. And I'm not saying I agree with everything he's doing. ... I do agree with what they're doing with the banks. Whether they fund them or nationalize them, it doesn't matter, but you have to keep the banks going.
King: Do you assess him as a champion?
Trump: Oh, yes, he's a champion. I mean, he won against all odds. When he first announced, people were giving him virtually no chance. And he's just done something that's amazing."....
Yes it is.
Ethanol in yer gas tank AINT!
I don't mind the subsidy, as much as I do having to put it in my car!!!!
That's the TRUTH! You've said so yourself many times now.
Do you know which stations sell sober gasoline? Very few, and we all know where they are.
Branstad, the governor, convinced Trump apparently on a one on one, that ethanol on the whole is good for the country.
Now, I don’t know where it stands now as being subsidized. I heard that it is not subsidized any more, but the mandates are, ie that a certain percentage of ethanol needs to be in our gas.
What bugs me, is why don’t WE have a choice? I mean a legitimate affordable choice? I can buy gas without ethanol, but it’s almost double the price. This is not fair or right.
So, now I’m leasing a car, and I don’t care what gas is going in it.
“Agricultural price support is good for America.”
No, what is good for america is giving $$$ to ME !! I can be your Dictator
I'd rather see an in-balance market with privately owned farms producing foods that aren't poisoning us. I'd rather not have corn syrup making a high percentage of our foods inedible and ethanol lowering MPG and gumming up engines.
But you know what? At this juncture in our history, we need to solve the problems of globalization, the invasion, blood-sucking corporate entities destroying US entrepreneurship and getting US citizens back to work.
Then the problem that price supports prevents can be addressed. But to not support family farmers now would be a disaster, much like what we're seeing with the glut of oil destroying small producers and the good jobs they provide.
You’ve got to be kidding—farm subsidies and floors save us from deflation?
So too would housing and healthcare supports, too, I guess. So really Obamacare must be a great, great thing.
Kinda hard to see how crony agricultural capitalism is required when those foods that don’t have price supports don’t suffer from both scarcity and “too-low” prices.
Everything was out of wack in the depression, which was also back in the day before we had modern food storage, processing and transportation.
As Mark Leving pointed out last night, ethanol subsidies raise the price of food globally—including for those in third world countries without enough to eat.
If you truly believe this rot, YOU pay it. Don't let Pander Bears like Trump force ME to pay for it through high taxes. Capitalism has proven to work in this country for more than two centuries. Socialism always fails. Price supports are socialism.
The attacks on U.S. Agriculture are endless. The food producers must be punished. 50 million on food stamps, free meals to school kids, and over 50% of federal budget sucked up by the parasites, but hey, to this liberal writer, going after less than 0.01% of the budget is more important.