Subsidies and famine...

huge crazy idea and I know it'd never work but it's a nifty idea anyway




all those farmers who are getting paid subsidies to not grow food could instead be paid to grow it and sell it at a much reduced price (the amount it cost them to grow it or something) to an agency, this agency would then distribute this food to famine stricken countries the world over.....


we wouldn't have to worry about aid checks for things like this crisis in niger, it'd be built in, this agency would spring into action (the famine was seen coming from last year) and bring in grain and as many nonperishables as possible to these people, the workers could be volunteer or paid a small salary and the farmers are getting paid more than they had been.....


and I know it'll never happen and it'd never work, but it's a nice dream.....

 

The food already exists, so it wouldn't cost us another dime (although we should end farm subsidies anyway). An enormous amount of food that could feed a significant portion of Africa is instead rotting away in American and European storage.

 

That's a noble dream. I think food should be free for everyone. It said on wikipedia a while back (but I went back and it's been deleted) that we pay farmers roughly the cost of the value of the food they produce in subsidies, through our taxes, then we pay twice that much again for our food in the shops because of the artificially inflated prices.

Doesn't that mean we could pay exactly the same amount of taxes and get our food for free? Sorry if it sounds a bit selfish compared to shipping it off to starving people but I think freedom starts at home. And then spreads.

 

Subsidies became necessary because farmers said they weren't making enough money to support themselves. Can you imagine if the farmers would go work in a factory and nobody would grow the food anymore at all.