“We should instead tell our "leaders" that the best farm bill is no farm bill. There is no sound reason for government to subsidize farmers or to protect them from foreign competitors. Any farmer or rancher too incompetent to produce food that consumers pay for voluntarily should find other employment.”Demonstrating his ignorance in an op-ed was strike one against the former President. Admitting he was still one of the farmers who receives cotton subsidies…strike two.
11 December, 2007
Carter on Trade II
Carter’s op-ed that Mark points to is fantastically illogical. But the two amendments he boosters in the Senate will provide some improvement. Don Boudreaux recently wrote my favorite line regarding the farm bill in a letter to the editor at the Washington Times. Keep in mind that I come from a farm family.
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In the late 1970s and early 1980s, New Zealand’s largely (largely agrarian) economy was suffering from high inflation and the heavy burden of substantial agricultural subsidies. At the suggestion of farm interests (including Federated Farmers of New Zealand, the largest agricultural trade group), the regime of economic assistance was reevaluated. Between 1984 and 1990, **every single** form of economic assistance and import restriction affecting agriculture in New Zealand was removed. The result? Agriculture has grown faster than any other sector of the economy (it went from 1% growth prior to eliminating subsidies, to roughly 5.9% annual growth since).
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