Posted on 07/12/2018 4:59:13 AM PDT by reaganaut1
When pork prices collapsed amid a global trade war during the Great Depression, the Roosevelt Administration in 1933 had an idea—slaughter six million piglets. Put a floor under prices by destroying supply. It didn’t work. Now the Trump Administration may try its own version of Depressionomics by using the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to support crop prices walloped by the Trump tariffs: Hurt farmers and then put them on the government dole. How about not hurting them in the first place?
That’s the question as Mr. Trump escalates his trade war, on Wednesday proposing 10% tariffs on $200 billion in additional Chinese goods. China says it is “shocked” by the new border taxes and will look to retaliate again—and no doubt U.S. agriculture will again be one of its main targets.
Enter the forgotten but alas not gone CCC, the financial institution that FDR charged with solving the problem of depressed markets caused by weak demand. Farmers were told to plant less in exchange for a floor under prices. The CCC financed the purchase of surpluses through nonrecourse “loans” to farmers, and held the crops in storage.
When market demand improved, the Agriculture Department was supposed to sell the stored commodities at higher prices. Nonrecourse meant that the farmer didn’t have to repay the loan, and the USDA often couldn’t unload the surpluses because demand didn’t recover.
The Depression ended but the CCC kept going. In 2012 Congress put limits on CCC purchases of surplus commodities and on price supports after the Obama Administration used it for a costly 2009 disaster program without Congressional approval. But then out of the blue this year, Congress lifted the limits on CCC’s power to remove surplus crops from the market to support prices.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Yes, all kinds of pork.
Like Food Stamps and other social services rolled into the “farm” bill.
The so-called farm bill is always loaded with all kinds of pork.
Yes like Food Stamps and WIC
The dems have used the public coffers to buy votes forever. I don’t care. This is all second tier stuff to me.
Bingo!. . .exactly!
So what? Why do I give sh!t about pig farmers, one of the biggest employers of illegal and imported stoop labor?
Obviously you have never worked on a pig farm. I am against hiring illegals to do any work but your average couch potato video game playing american teenager wouldn’t last 2 hours working on a pig farm.
Farmers will go broke in masses in next 2 years.
You are correct. current prices for corn and soybeans are at or below cost of Production
Not for $6-8/hr or less. At $15-$20 though, you could get legit labor.
Smithfield Foods, Inc., is a meat-processing company and wholly owned subsidiary of WH Group of China...
In addition to the over 500 farms Smithfield owns in the United States, another 2,000 independent contract farms around the country grow Smithfield's pigs.[4] Outside the U.S., the company has facilities in Mexico, Poland, Romania, Germany and the UK.[5] Globally the company employed 50,200 in 2016 and reported an annual revenue of $14 billion.[2] Its 973,000-square-foot meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, was reported in 2000 to be the world's largest, processing 32,000 pigs a day.[6]
Then known as Shuanghui Group, WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods in 2013 for $4.72 billion, more than its market value.[7] It was the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company to date.[8] The acquisition of Smithfield's 146,000 acres of land made WH Group, headquartered in Luohe, Henan province, one of the largest overseas owners of American farmland.[9]
A huge amount of globalist BS comes form Canada also.
“So you ignorant < expletive deleted > you quote the Bible but have no clue as to the status of unions in the USA. STHU loser. Go away.”
Spoken like a true Union thug.
Not for $6-8/hr or less. At $15-$20 though, you could get legit labor.
Nope they wont work for that either. And that pushes expenses up above the level of return and we loose money and go out of business so no one gets any bacon.
Corporate conglomerate farms NEVER go broke.
Over the last 40 years I never saw the WSJ lament the closing of one US factory. NOT ONCE!
Yes, they will. I have worked in retail and hospitality my entire life - mostly in corporate management - and at $15-20/hr you can get legit quality labor just about everywhere but SF, LA, NYC and Boston
And as the price of bacon, etc goes up, production will also go up. Aggra is already massively subsidized - both directly with subsidies - and indirectly with food stamps.
American farmers grow plenty of corn and soybeans - highly mechanized and land-intensive products
America grows nowhere near enough to meet the nation’s demand for fruits and vegetables - very labor intensive products.
Again you show your ignorance as to the status of unions in the USA.. You are reprobate. Go away you craven fool.
It cost farmers $450 and acre to plant corn
200 bushels an acre yield @ 3.00 per to sell
Now you have rent or mortgage payment
Real Math
Uh. NO. Farms have enough support already with the whole ethanol mess and other abused programs. Around here fed money is like christmas. Everybody gets in on the act somehow.
“but you can’t help all the people hurt by the new tariffs.”
How about all the many more people hurt by not having tariffs, do you give a rats ass about them??
If farmers cant stay in business then they should go out of businesses and get real jobs.
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