Maybe I'm a libertarian who doesn't froth at the mouth and get all beady-eyed at the idea of government run and funded social programs? I don't harbor this illogical fear and hatred of subsidies and federal departments?
I don't know what my keenness of the word is...
You should hate subsidies, because they're awful, horrible things that run counter to just about every other goal the federal government attempts to attain.
Well, as it stands now, I don't approve, but... I really just don't know. I'd be willing to hear your opinions on it, however. I don't have a job which (loosely) relies on my knowledge of economy. And I haven't taken 4 years of political science and economy courses.
For instance, the current farming situation, with meat and dairy getting 75% of subsidies, while fruit and vegetable farmers get less than 1%? That's pretty fucked up, and, despite what Human Nature says about a global fat epidemic, could be argued as a cause of national weight gain. My own family, for instance, almost all qualify as overweight. But we're also poor. We can't afford to eat very healthy. Not for six people.
But that doesn't necessarily mean subsidies are implicitly bad... I don't think...
[EDIT]: Also, granted that there's more to health than fruits and vegetables, but pasta every third night doesn't help, either.
But that doesn't necessarily mean subsidies are implicitly bad... I don't think...
Subsidies are generally universally bad, with perhaps the exception of tech research and arts funding. The farm subsidies are a crime of epidemic proportions. I think there's a documentary called King corn or somehow about Corn that's making the rounds now that covers a lot of this. I'm really curious about that one.
Just try, sometime, to eat without consuming any corn in any of your foods. It's insanely more difficult than you might think at first.
Maybe I'm a libertarian who doesn't froth at the mouth and get all beady-eyed at the idea of government run and funded social programs? I don't harbor this illogical fear and hatred of subsidies and federal departments?
I don't know what my keenness of the word is...
You should hate subsidies, because they're awful, horrible things that run counter to just about every other goal the federal government attempts to attain.
Well, as it stands now, I don't approve, but... I really just don't know. I'd be willing to hear your opinions on it, however. I don't have a job which (loosely) relies on my knowledge of economy. And I haven't taken 4 years of political science and economy courses.
For instance, the current farming situation, with meat and dairy getting 75% of subsidies, while fruit and vegetable farmers get less than 1%? That's pretty fucked up, and, despite what Human Nature says about a global fat epidemic, could be argued as a cause of national weight gain. My own family, for instance, almost all qualify as overweight. But we're also poor. We can't afford to eat very healthy. Not for six people.
But that doesn't necessarily mean subsidies are implicitly bad... I don't think...
I don't know where you're getting your numbers, but I find them difficult to believe, given that the top recipients of farm subsidies are mostly corn states. Though, given how shitty it is for you, I can support not counting corn as a fruit or vegetable.
And if you want to look at obesity rates, they pretty much directly correlate with soda consumption in this country, which no one will talk about, because the soda industry is a huge client of--you guessed it--the corn industry.
I pinky swear I didn't make it up. There was a pyramid chart and everything...
But I'll look it up, so I don't look like an ass.
I think I remember seeing it, too, but I just simply don't believe it with the amount we give corn and wheat growers in this country.
It'd be like telling me that the #1 religion in the South is Shi'a Islam. I don't give a shit what sort of statistics you've allegedly got, they're wrong.
I have next to no knowledge of how subsidies work, but I do know that several people in this area are paid by the government to not grow certain things in their fields. They are essentially paid to allow good land to go to waste, and the only reasoning I've heard behind it is to keep the market from being overcrowded with certain crops and causing the cost of said crops to plummet.
Is this why you hate them? Because I could probably understand that.
I have next to no knowledge of how subsidies work, but I do know that several people in this area are paid by the government to not grow certain things in their fields. They are essentially paid to allow good land to go to waste, and the only reasoning I've heard behind it is to keep the market from being overcrowded with certain crops and causing the cost of said crops to plummet.
Is this why you hate them? Because I could probably understand that.
That's like the tip of the iceberg.
They're made to protect markets against themselves, leftover from a less sophisticated time when economic whims could prove devastating for the entire nation. With modern business practice and economics and global competition and such, they're really just artificial props for failing businesses.
Anyway, I think I'm really going to bed after this reply. Good night all.
Well, it's a site called "treehugger.com." That should be your first clue that it's maybe not the most reliable source. :P
Second, as she mentions in the article she's counting all of the subsidies paid towards soy and corn as meat industry subsidies, even though not all corn and soy goes towards feeding cattle.
I have next to no knowledge of how subsidies work, but I do know that several people in this area are paid by the government to not grow certain things in their fields. They are essentially paid to allow good land to go to waste, and the only reasoning I've heard behind it is to keep the market from being overcrowded with certain crops and causing the cost of said crops to plummet.
Is this why you hate them? Because I could probably understand that.
That's like the tip of the iceberg.
They're made to protect markets against themselves, leftover from a less sophisticated time when economic whims could prove devastating for the entire nation. With modern business practice and economics and global competition and such, they're really just artificial props for failing businesses.
Anyway, I think I'm really going to bed after this reply. Good night all.
Well it's more like their artificial props for business from like 3-4 decades ago. At some level you need to protect an amount of internal agriculture from going under.
I have next to no knowledge of how subsidies work, but I do know that several people in this area are paid by the government to not grow certain things in their fields. They are essentially paid to allow good land to go to waste, and the only reasoning I've heard behind it is to keep the market from being overcrowded with certain crops and causing the cost of said crops to plummet.
Is this why you hate them? Because I could probably understand that.
That's like the tip of the iceberg.
They're made to protect markets against themselves, leftover from a less sophisticated time when economic whims could prove devastating for the entire nation. With modern business practice and economics and global competition and such, they're really just artificial props for failing businesses.
Anyway, I think I'm really going to bed after this reply. Good night all.
Well it's more like their artificial props for business from like 3-4 decades ago. At some level you need to protect an amount of internal agriculture from going under.
Well, thank god that if the entire rest of the world ever decides that "hey, we hate America more than we like money," we can rest assured that we'll have enough... corn... to feed everyone.
Seriously, pretending that there's any sort of reason behind the food subsidy system in this country is fucking ridiculous. I could absolutely see that there are arguments to be made for having certain food subsidies in order to maintain a domestic food supply; however, such an argument would have to be made from a position of "yes, we need them, but the current system we have sucks ass and will need to be massively reformed before it can be anything even approaching useful."
On a slightly related note, I was watching C-Span the other day, and I caught it during a British House Commons session. I don't watch C-Span as a hobby. Mostly they're covering very dull topics. But someties it's interesting, and a different culture's political process is doubly entertaining.
Anyhow, there was mud slinging and policy debating, and whatnot, and then someone changed the subject to the problem of binge drinking. I suppose the Brits are having an alcohol problem (maybe), because he spoke as if they all knew what he was even talking about. He could have just been crazy.
He said he had been looking into the issue, and found it was the supermarkets fault.
"Many supermarkets have been selling the drink at production cost! It's too cheap!"
He went on to say they should force alcohol prices up to stop drinking.
On a slightly related note, I was watching C-Span the other day, and I caught it during a British House Commons session. I don't watch C-Span as a hobby. Mostly they're covering very dull topics. But someties it's interesting, and a different culture's political process is doubly entertaining.
Anyhow, there was mud slinging and policy debating, and whatnot, and then someone changed the subject to the problem of binge drinking. I suppose the Brits are having an alcohol problem (maybe), because he spoke as if they all knew what he was even talking about. He could have just been crazy.
He said he had been looking into the issue, and found it was the supermarkets fault.
"Many supermarkets have been selling the drink at production cost! It's too cheap!"
He went on to say they should force alcohol prices up to stop drinking.
Question Period is awesome. I don't know how Gordon Brown does, but watching Tony Blair at Question Period was like watching a Shaolin master of answers.
If we had Question Period in this country, I doubt Dubya would have won a second term.
And Britain has been trying to address their binge drinking problem for quite some time, now. I don't know how much of a problem it actually is compared to, say, the U.S., but I think I remember hearing that it's pretty bad compared to most of Western Europe.
For some reason I find Question Period to be adorable. It sounds like a class in first grade.
Technically, it's "Questions to the Prime Minister." Or "PMQs," for short.
In Australia, though, it's "Question Time," I think. But you already knew that, didn't you, Eddy, you goddamned foreigner? When will they be deporting you?
Alright, I'm convinced. The politicians I thought were serious politicians are Fleas on the Beast. Ron Paul will put the Beast on a diet. Or possibly tame it. The metaphor isn't clear, but that's not the point. The point is that before I didn't see the light, but this woman who doesn't blink and her terrible metaphor have made me see the light. I'm buying liberty dollars as we speak and registering to vote in the Republican primary.
On a slightly related note, I was watching C-Span the other day, and I caught it during a British House Commons session. I don't watch C-Span as a hobby. Mostly they're covering very dull topics. But someties it's interesting, and a different culture's political process is doubly entertaining.
Anyhow, there was mud slinging and policy debating, and whatnot, and then someone changed the subject to the problem of binge drinking. I suppose the Brits are having an alcohol problem (maybe), because he spoke as if they all knew what he was even talking about. He could have just been crazy.
He said he had been looking into the issue, and found it was the supermarkets fault.
"Many supermarkets have been selling the drink at production cost! It's too cheap!"
He went on to say they should force alcohol prices up to stop drinking.
Question Period is awesome. I don't know how Gordon Brown does, but watching Tony Blair at Question Period was like watching a Shaolin master of answers.
If we had Question Period in this country, I doubt Dubya would have won a second term.
And Britain has been trying to address their binge drinking problem for quite some time, now. I don't know how much of a problem it actually is compared to, say, the U.S., but I think I remember hearing that it's pretty bad compared to most of Western Europe.
I should qualify my statement with that I wasn't finding humor in the problem or his suggestions, per se...
It was more the very stereotypically, angrily "British" way in which he was talking about it. And the way he said "at production cost" made it seem like he had forgotten how outraged and amazed he was by that fact, and was discovering it all over again as he spoke.
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edited December 2007
This is going to be an awful week. I missed yesterday because I couldn't sleep - I had a brutal headache and that was compounded by the fact that every time I laid down I could feel my heart pounding. I called in once morning rolled around and finally got a few hours of sleep. Now it's 3AM and while I don't have a headache now, my heart pounds every time I lay down again. I don't think I can afford to miss another day of work.
Posts
Well, as it stands now, I don't approve, but... I really just don't know. I'd be willing to hear your opinions on it, however. I don't have a job which (loosely) relies on my knowledge of economy. And I haven't taken 4 years of political science and economy courses.
For instance, the current farming situation, with meat and dairy getting 75% of subsidies, while fruit and vegetable farmers get less than 1%? That's pretty fucked up, and, despite what Human Nature says about a global fat epidemic, could be argued as a cause of national weight gain. My own family, for instance, almost all qualify as overweight. But we're also poor. We can't afford to eat very healthy. Not for six people.
But that doesn't necessarily mean subsidies are implicitly bad... I don't think...
[EDIT]: Also, granted that there's more to health than fruits and vegetables, but pasta every third night doesn't help, either.
I find your ideas interesting and would like to subscribe to your pamphlet and/or newsletter.
It's doing fine, I just want monies for not doing anything.
Just try, sometime, to eat without consuming any corn in any of your foods. It's insanely more difficult than you might think at first.
Everywhere I fucking turn, there's high fructose corn syrup in fucking everything.
In my fucking bread!
And if you want to look at obesity rates, they pretty much directly correlate with soda consumption in this country, which no one will talk about, because the soda industry is a huge client of--you guessed it--the corn industry.
But I'll look it up, so I don't look like an ass.
It'd be like telling me that the #1 religion in the South is Shi'a Islam. I don't give a shit what sort of statistics you've allegedly got, they're wrong.
Is this why you hate them? Because I could probably understand that.
[EDIT]: I'll preface this by saying, as soon as we started talking about corn, fruit and vegetables getting less then 1% did seem fishy.
Secondly, I found the source. It's... eh.
Here.
Put simply, as much as I hate farm subsidies, that pictograph was almost certainly wrong.
They're made to protect markets against themselves, leftover from a less sophisticated time when economic whims could prove devastating for the entire nation. With modern business practice and economics and global competition and such, they're really just artificial props for failing businesses.
Anyway, I think I'm really going to bed after this reply. Good night all.
Second, as she mentions in the article she's counting all of the subsidies paid towards soy and corn as meat industry subsidies, even though not all corn and soy goes towards feeding cattle.
Well it's more like their artificial props for business from like 3-4 decades ago. At some level you need to protect an amount of internal agriculture from going under.
Seriously, pretending that there's any sort of reason behind the food subsidy system in this country is fucking ridiculous. I could absolutely see that there are arguments to be made for having certain food subsidies in order to maintain a domestic food supply; however, such an argument would have to be made from a position of "yes, we need them, but the current system we have sucks ass and will need to be massively reformed before it can be anything even approaching useful."
Anyhow, there was mud slinging and policy debating, and whatnot, and then someone changed the subject to the problem of binge drinking. I suppose the Brits are having an alcohol problem (maybe), because he spoke as if they all knew what he was even talking about. He could have just been crazy.
He said he had been looking into the issue, and found it was the supermarkets fault.
"Many supermarkets have been selling the drink at production cost! It's too cheap!"
He went on to say they should force alcohol prices up to stop drinking.
That shit is too expensive this year. Fucking lack of rain.
Yeah, as soon as I saw that it hit me that I might as well have been taking my political facts from a Ron Paul supporter's website.
If we had Question Period in this country, I doubt Dubya would have won a second term.
And Britain has been trying to address their binge drinking problem for quite some time, now. I don't know how much of a problem it actually is compared to, say, the U.S., but I think I remember hearing that it's pretty bad compared to most of Western Europe.
In Australia, though, it's "Question Time," I think. But you already knew that, didn't you, Eddy, you goddamned foreigner? When will they be deporting you?
That citizenship application can't get back fast enough.
That bitch is terrifying.
I should qualify my statement with that I wasn't finding humor in the problem or his suggestions, per se...
It was more the very stereotypically, angrily "British" way in which he was talking about it. And the way he said "at production cost" made it seem like he had forgotten how outraged and amazed he was by that fact, and was discovering it all over again as he spoke.
bleh
Also: New av and sig.
[EDIT]: Realizing now I need to change my title and location...
[EDIT]: Done.
Which means I really need UPS to deliver the parts for my new PC and I need to learn how to build a PC.
The Russians love me again. Even the girl who should totally hate me.