We already have ways of dealing with dumping -- tariffs. We do it all the time. However, don't call all importing "dumping."
"Ask Carey Okie....Except for a few subsidized products with price supports, America has become a net importer of food."
1996 Annual Report of the President of the United States on the Trade Agreements Program:
"Under basic economic theories, the entire economy rests on the foundation of supplying raw materials. "
Under about the most basic economic theory, specialization, if Mexico can grow oranges cheaper and better than we can, while in the U.S., we're moving to a more highly-developed, high-tech economy, then we should import Mexico's oranges. It makes no sense economically for us to continue to produce them.
"I almost wish they would just to bring to urban people's attention the fact that their entire "civilization" and economy rests on the shoulders of these hard-working folks."
This reminds me of the time in the Army. The fuel supply people telling tankers they'd get nowhere without them, the tankers saying that without them, there'd be no reason to be there, etc.
Our entire civilization rests on more than farmers. I'm in IT -- what would happen if all the comptuers went away? Cars? Electricity? Actually, I'd say the sewage treatment people are the most important.
Why is it that farmers are always accorded such special status? They're in a business just like the rest of us. If they can't make it, they should get out of the business. For the record, I mostly grew up in rural Colorado.
My solution: remove the price suports, subsidies and incentives for farmers to not grow crops (which in themselves shows you we grow too much -- maybe that land should be converted). Remove all but the basic food safety regulations. Then let, for example, milk be sold for what it's worth. Lots of farmers will go out of business, and lots of farmers will get rich. The prices will fluctuate wildly for a little while, then settle down to probably a little less than now. The plus side is no more tax dollars wasted.
It may be a somewhat radical solution, but then I'm a bit crazy. For some reason I thought we had a captialist system, not a socialist one.
Not until the Mexicans get a monopoly on oranges, it doesn't. All the high tech in the world won't put a bite in your belly, but high tech devices have made US farmers some of the most efficient in the world.
We had farms before computers, cars, or electricity. While these have made farming more efficient (so fewer people have to farm), they do not replace growing food. Without food, the sewage treatment people would be out of a job in short order.