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Farming is an activity that is critical to the national economy and a strategic asset. It's not like this is some boondoggle bridge to nowhere. Seems kind of

Farming is an activity that is critical to the national economy and a strategic asset. It's not like this is some boondoggle bridge to nowhere. Seems kind of like FUD spreading to say that we spend $8B subsidizing crop insurance and then saying we'll pay more (which is obvious, IMO) and acting like this is a problem without even floating an number for that future cost. And this is coming from someone who's against most farm subsidies.

wongarsu 7y ago
I agree that farming as a whole is important, but how does subsidizing crop insurance help? Why can farmers not just pay 100% of their insurance premiums instead of only 40%?
- RhysU 7y ago
  We can either pay for the risk via subsidized premiums (40%) or through increased food costs (100%). Subsidizing the premiums is arguably less efficient (bureaucratic overhead on taxation) but is progressive in a progressive tax system.
dorfsmay 7y ago
In a pure capitalist society, how does one decide what is critical to the national economy and worth socialising its cost? Why farming vs k-12 education vs university education vs healthcare vs roads?
- aphextim 7y ago
  I feel with technology everything should be localized to a point. Every time I go in to cast my vote for local elected positions give me a 100 checkbox list where I can number 1-10 what I personally want my tax money to go to. Aggregate this data and you ideally will have what people need in the area. Town A - everyone put a 1, 2, or 3 in for roads. Town B - no one put hardly anything for roads. Town A's roads are suffering so they chose this. Town B decided their roads are okay however they want to pump education/school funding. This could be done locally/state/federal level. Obviously this would require some oversight but I want a popular vote for my tax dollars. Just my 2 cents, probably not worth a penny.
hylaride 7y ago
OK, so then the US should stop subsidizing corn (the vast majority of which isn't used for nutritional intake) and focus on actual food, but the current crop (pun intended) of farmers want to grow "easy" corn and have enough control of the political process to get subsidized for it.

wongarsu 7y ago

I agree that farming as a whole is important, but how does subsidizing crop insurance help? Why can farmers not just pay 100% of their insurance premiums instead of only 40%?

RhysU 7y ago
We can either pay for the risk via subsidized premiums (40%) or through increased food costs (100%). Subsidizing the premiums is arguably less efficient (bureaucratic overhead on taxation) but is progressive in a progressive tax system.

dorfsmay 7y ago

In a pure capitalist society, how does one decide what is critical to the national economy and worth socialising its cost? Why farming vs k-12 education vs university education vs healthcare vs roads?

aphextim 7y ago
I feel with technology everything should be localized to a point. Every time I go in to cast my vote for local elected positions give me a 100 checkbox list where I can number 1-10 what I personally want my tax money to go to. Aggregate this data and you ideally will have what people need in the area. Town A - everyone put a 1, 2, or 3 in for roads. Town B - no one put hardly anything for roads. Town A's roads are suffering so they chose this. Town B decided their roads are okay however they want to pump education/school funding. This could be done locally/state/federal level. Obviously this would require some oversight but I want a popular vote for my tax dollars. Just my 2 cents, probably not worth a penny.

hylaride 7y ago

OK, so then the US should stop subsidizing corn (the vast majority of which isn't used for nutritional intake) and focus on actual food, but the current crop (pun intended) of farmers want to grow "easy" corn and have enough control of the political process to get subsidized for it.