WELFARE - IS IT OK WHEN IT GOES TO TEXAN FARMERS?

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WELFARE - IS IT OK WHEN IT GOES TO TEXAN FARMERS?

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choices : WELFARE - IS IT OK WHEN IT GOES TO TEXAN FARMERS?

[+] ballot by Steelhamster
created Thu Jun 09, 05
Cotton in the US costs 48 cents per pound, 30 cents less than it costs to produce, thanks to subsidies worth $4 billion a year.

This is 3 times the amount of US aid to Africa. The biggest subsidies (welfare) go to farmers in Texas, home state of one George W Bush - where one farmer recieves $17 million a year.

The cotton is turned into T-shirts in China by workers paid less than a dollar a day.

In Benin, which relies on cotton for 60% of its exports, farmers are going out of business.

There were 80,000 five years ago, today there are 26,000. As a result, the 16th poorest nation is losing 1.4 % of its GDP a year.

Should we be handing out cash to farmers to produce a product that is not subject to market forces, the buzz word of conservatism.

Yes, welfare should go to farmers.
No, welfare should NOT go to farmers.
Other [Please Comment]

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COMMENTS:
Nope, absolutely not okay. Then there is the matter of the sugar price subsidies. In the free market rhetoric that Bush (and others) run on there is no room for protectionism. It only hurts in the long run.

The amount of money that goes into farm subsidies would easily finance the national healthcare that many people want. The problem is that the people are monolithic and scattered whereas the various lobbies and concentrated and very vocal. Money talks and the lobbies use it extremely well (to say the least).

by xxxxxxxx on Fri Jun 10, 05 2:24am [+]

"we" ??? are you American now, steel?

where did you find this 17 million a year 'fact' at? not saying i dont trust you, i would like to see it myself, thats all.

there is abuse in these programs, but the majority of it is going to farmers who need it. i would rather my taxes go to our farmers than ones on another continent. most of our smaller farms barely get by and free trade agreements have made their problems worse.

by JohnnyReb on Fri Jun 10, 05 2:47am [+]

Complicated issue, Steel. Nevertheless, you have identified a problem in our country. Subsidies, soil bank, dairy supports, et al are absolutely "Welfare." A good general definition for "welfare" is the government giving some individual or population, something valuable without an expectation of recovering the valuable.

by xxxxxxxx on Fri Jun 10, 05 4:04am [+]

HELL NO! None of these subsisides should exist.

by thc2883 on Fri Jun 10, 05 8:12am [+]

We should cut all welfare. Doesn't matter who it goes to.

by herzog on Fri Jun 10, 05 10:04am [+]

Interesting that we engage in the very trade practices we decry in other countries ... even today.

by Cathexis on Fri Jun 10, 05 10:13am [+]

When I use 'we', I include the Common Agricultural Policy we have in Europe where we pay farmers to overproduce food then either destroy it or dump it on the open market and so driving down prices.

The farmer gets paid either way.

The source by the way is from the Independent newspaper in the UK, which ran a feature on subsidies.

Many of you may not know that the US currently impose tariffs on British steel and so violate free trade agreements.

I would like to pick up on what JohnnyReb said about 'our taxes going to US farmers and not other countries.

I think you will find that the farmers of Benin and other countries, just want a level playing field in the market.

by Steelhamster on Fri Jun 10, 05 10:27am [+]

I would also like to congratulate al respondents for making their points without resorting to point scoring...

Some interesting and varied opinions.

by Steelhamster on Fri Jun 10, 05 10:29am [+]

I agree with herz and thc.

by CletuSlackedJawYokel on Fri Jun 10, 05 11:14am [+]

Steelhamster what is "point scoring"?

Would that be if someone were to bring up the fact that almost all nations attempt to protect three industries? A

Ag, textiles, and steel?

But the point, that you make, is that the protectionism in and of itself is wrong. Protectionism can do nothing but breed the divisions that some many "free marketeers" claim as a benefit of free trade.

by xxxxxxxx on Fri Jun 10, 05 10:29pm [+]

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