I’ve often wanted to learn more about big government’s involvement with farming. I am now reading a book, a book club book ironically enough, that is actually teaching me a bit about this. It’s called The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. The book is actually about how far food has come from being natural or healthy thanks to the industrialized food chain. I’ve never been into the organic craze out there, but it’s interesting to learn about how corn syrup has taken over the food industry. Maybe we’ll actually get a little healthier from my reading it.
But back to stupid governing. In just the small part I’ve read, the author has explained a bit of the history of farming, tracing the evolution of the corn crop from the New Deal to the present day. And here is my rant.
Can someone please explain to me the absurdity of the government, i.e. ME paying farmers money regardless of how much their corn is selling for. The government pays farmers to make as much as they possibly can even though the supply is too high and the price too low. I don't get it. Why can't farmers go out of business? Businesses do! If there is too much corn being made, if the prices are to too low, then why the heck do they keep making so much? Why? Because the government pays them with my money to keep doing it.
Pollan describes one farmer's payment plan:
"The Iowa Farmers Cooperative does not write the only check George Naylor will receive for his corn crop this fall. He gets a second check from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-about twenty-eight cents a bushel no matter what the market price of corn is, and considerably more should the price of corn drop below a certain threshold. Let's say the price of a bushel falls to $1.45, as it most recently did in October 2005. Since the official target price in Greene County stands at $1.87, the government would then send farmers another $0.42 in "deficiency payments," for a total of $0.70 for every bushel of corn they can grow. Taken together these federal payments account for nearly half the income of the average Iowa corn farmer and represent roughly a quarter of the $19 billion U.S. taxpayers spend each year on payments to farmers." Really, these farmers are not making any money even with this kind of help! They are barely getting by. But they keep doing it because the govt. will pay them even if the price of corn is next to nothing. It's welfare. And it's stupid.
Life is hard. Sometimes your business fails and you have to go do something new. Why should I be paying to keep them in business!
The demand for food will keep the right amount of farmers in business if government and it’s USDA would just butt out!
Am I wrong? I realize I have not studied the entire history of farming or its government involvement. And no, I have never been left penniless when my business/farm failed. But from this book and other things I have heard and read, it seems to be what’s happening. This is exactly what the bank bailout was, or the GM bailout or anything else our government has done recently to “save” failing businesses. Let the free market run it’s course and everything works itself out. Products (or food) that are needed will be consumed and those businesses will flourish, products (or food) that are not needed, or are poorly made will die off. And I get to keep my money, thank you very much!
There. Now I feel better. Had to get that MAD vent off my chest.
And just to switch gears slightly and to make myself feel better, I want to post this video from Powerline about the utter hypocrasy being shown by the democrats trying to push the Healthcare bill through via reconcilation. Oh, it is beautifully funny. What's sad, is that Republicans were trying to do this 5 years ago. Pathetic. Drunk governing indeed.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/02/025673.php
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Try reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It is very informative and will give you another perspective on the plight of the farmer. Perhaps I feel more for farmers since I live in Iowa and know some personally. I would be mad instead at the big business monopolies who force smaller family farms out of business while polluting the earth with pesticides and herbicides and mistreating animals horribly. Some big companies actually genetically engineer the corn seed they sell to be susceptible to certain pests, and guess who then sells the pesticide needed to preserve the corn? The same company! Talk about corruption! I think the free market would work much better if the monopolies weren't skewing it. If we really have too much corn, then why aren't we shipping it abroad to make a profit or using it to provide food for the poor in our own country? Instead the govt wastes it. I can't remember the details from the book on this part, but it was interesting.
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