On Friday I took the opportunity to critique the CNN/YouTube GOP Presidential Debate — where I candidly expressed my disappointment of the video questions that were selected for that event. I figured that I would swing back and take a moment to highlight what I felt was the low-point of the affair…
GOP Presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani were asked about whether they support taxpayer subsidies for American farmers… Both of them gave answers that were extraordinairily disappointing…. Romney and Giuliani both know better, and so I would catagorize this as political pandering at its best to corn-belt voters in Iowa and thereabouts. Check out this segment…
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There are several basic economic problems with agricultural subsidies (h/t CfG):
- Government should not be subsidizing any industry in America. It is simply not the proper role of the federal government.
- Farm subsidies, as they currently exist, take tax dollars from middle-class Americans and dole them out to wealthy farmers. It is nothing more than an income redistribution program.
- Farm subsidies distort the agricultural economy and create perverse incentives to grow crops based on their subsidy value rather than their market value.
- Farm subsidies impede our ability to expand international trade. High subsidies allow foreign countries to rationalize their own subsidies and their obstacles to importing American agricultural products.
- The notion that we need farm subsidies to protect the country’s food source is absurd. The country is not suffering from a lack of food supply. In fact, America is one of the world’s leading agricultural producers.
- Finally, the “unfair” argument is a protectionist claim, under the guise of supporting American farmers. If subsidized European produce is cheaper than unsubsidized American produce, American consumers should have the option of buying the cheaper produce, no matter where it comes from. If other countries want to let their taxpayers subsidize American consumption, we should not stand in their way.
We like to say that the best way to win elections against Democrats is to contrast them. Embracing a government subsidy for a private enterprise is straight out of the Democrat playbook, not ours!
Oh well, we’ll close with a story that puts everything in perspective…
**There is more – click the link**
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:00 am
I agree with you as far as eliminating the subsidies goes, but we must give preference to American farmers and manufacturers are concerned.
If anything, the “free-trade” scam that was foisted on the American people in the 1990’s and early 2000’s has been unmasked as a fraud.
All we’ve gotten for this policy was cheap-lead-based-crap from China and lots and lots of illegal aliens.
I’ll take the protectionist days of Ronald Reagan, who protected our auto industry, over the scam “free-trade” days of Clinton and Bush.