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kpete

(71,961 posts)
Sun Nov 17, 2013, 11:13 AM Nov 2013

The Insanity of Our Food Policy - By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ

American food policy has long been rife with head-scratching illogic. We spend billions every year on farm subsidies, many of which help wealthy commercial operations to plant more crops than we need. The glut depresses world crop prices, harming farmers in developing countries. Meanwhile, millions of Americans live tenuously close to hunger, which is barely kept at bay by a food stamp program that gives most beneficiaries just a little more than $4 a day.

So it’s almost too absurd to believe that House Republicans are asking for a farm bill that would make all of these problems worse. For the putative purpose of balancing the country’s books, the measures that the House Republican caucus is pushing for in negotiations with the Senate, as Congress attempts to pass a long-stalled extension of the farm bill, would cut back the meager aid to our country’s most vulnerable and use the proceeds to continue fattening up a small number of wealthy American farmers.

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http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/the-insanity-of-our-food-policy/

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The Insanity of Our Food Policy - By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ (Original Post) kpete Nov 2013 OP
Billionaires Collect Millions In Taxpayer Dollars Through Farm Subsidies ProSense Nov 2013 #1
MIchele Bachmann reaps $250K to help her with her "farm". bvar22 Nov 2013 #2
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