Not Enough

We should not be giving out farm subsidies especially not to dead people. Bush’s budget is a good start but doesn’t go nearly far enough.

It is time for farm subsidies to end. Farm subsidies and tariff protections do very little to help the small farmer but do much to raise the price of food for the average American. Why in the world does the US government give money to Californian farmers to grow rice in the desert? Rice is one of the most water intensive crops in the world, yet the government gives these farmers cheap water, direct subsidies and tariff protection to grow rice.

Who does it help to subsidize sugar cane farmers when we could be getting the sugar from Caribbean nations? It sure doesn’t help the small farmer since over 95% of the sugar cane grown in this country is grown by a few large growers. Without doubt it hurts small third-world countries, US sugar consumers who have to pay 2-3 times the actual cost of sugar and candy producers who are moving to Mexico and Canada to avoid high sugar prices and then export the finished candy to the US without ruinous tariffs.

The US spends over 20 billion a year on direct payments to “farmers.” I don’t have anything against farmers, heck I toy with the idea of becoming a farmer, but they don’t deserve help from the government any more than any other business. Just like individual welfare programs, corporate welfare of any type causes the same dependence on government and the same corruption. Just like regular welfare, corporate welfare also has fails to fix the problem. Competition with the world will drive innovation and productivity improvements. The US is the most innovative society in the world, and has some of the most productive land in the world. Trust the US farmer to rise to this challenge.

Don’t think I’m picking on farmers alone, I want all subsidies to end. Ethanol, timber, mining, fishing, mohair, helium, and any others I am missing.