[Willie Green]

Farm subsidies and price supports are not corporate welfare.
Rather, they are a necessary intervention in the agricultural market to assure an abundant and reliable food supply. Previous experience with laissez-faire agriculture production has taught us that it is a natural feast or famine cycle. It is in our national interest (as it is for all nations) to bring production stability to this market so that it more closely matches the constant demand for food.

[CanadianFella]

Farm subsidies and price supports are not corporate welfare. Rather, they are a necessary intervention in the agricultural market to assure an abundant and reliable food supply

My BS meter is going off the chart

[mikenola]

I dunno Willie, I'm split on this one.

On one hand, I understand Bush's reasoning on the wheat and steel tarrifs from a national security perspective.

On the other, I can see negative consequences of tarriffs on ancillary industries. We here in New Orleans are taking a big bite in the butt from the steel tarrif, due to the lost off traffic through the port of New Orleans.

Seems to me though that farm subsidies are another issue entirely. Considering the massive amount of cash piped into these programs, i think we are doing a disservice to the agriculture industry, by giving individual farmers little incentive to minimize costs and become competitive.

Bottom line, I'd go with using tarrifs to discourage dumping, but scale back the subsidy program, which you gotta admit has been a vote getter for many administrations.

[steve-b]

Farm subsidies and price supports are not corporate welfare.