4 ms·

Exactly this. Meat is drastically cheaper than it would be from natural market forces and actual healthy shit is expensive. I'm not vegan or vegetarian by the

Exactly this. Meat is drastically cheaper than it would be from natural market forces and actual healthy shit is expensive. I'm not vegan or vegetarian by the way but this aggravates me to no end and contributes to a lot of our problems.

Pyxl101 7y ago
Is there an actual argument somewhere for why these subsidies are desirable for the nation? Let's say, written by people who agree with them. What is the stated purpose? This should be written from the perspective that most industries should not warrant any subsidies. I don't understand why taxpayers should subsidize farms, and I'd like to read the rationale.
- basementcat 7y ago
  A colleague (who supports farm subsidies) explained to me that farm subsidies incentivize hard work while education loan forgiveness incentivizes laziness.
- dmoy 7y ago
  Some degree of farm subsidies are good/necessary just for the sake of food safety and national defense. But, the amount and type of subsidies in the US is way off the charts for just those purposes.
- habnds 7y ago
  Um, because to win the presidential election you need to do well in the Iowa caucuses and agricultural communities are overrepresentated in the legislature.
gingabriska 7y ago
But what's the rationale behind keeping meat price low. We know meat can be easily substituted with plant based diet, so no one will starve. Meat processing is also resource intensive (for example, it needs large amount of water). We need to price in externalities, even the methane gas released by cattles should be calculated and put on the prices of meat as a tax.
- nearbuy 7y ago
  I don't think the government is really intentionally trying to keep meat prices down. I think it's a side effect of subsidizing crops. I've heard two reasons for subsidizing crops. 1. The government wants the country to be somewhat self-sufficient for food. If, let's say, there was another world war and imports were cut-off, they want to avoid mass starvation. 2. Crop output from a farm will vary from year to year due to weather and other factors. Without subsidies, during a streak of good crop years, production of that crop will exceed demand and the price will drop. This will cause some farms to go bankrupt (the number of farms will decrease until supply matches demand again). If a bad crop year then follows, you'll have shortages. Subsidies can smooth out these inefficiencies cause by weather by keeping farms alive during the good years so we have enough crops during the bad years.

Pyxl101 7y ago

Is there an actual argument somewhere for why these subsidies are desirable for the nation? Let's say, written by people who agree with them. What is the stated purpose? This should be written from the perspective that most industries should not warrant any subsidies. I don't understand why taxpayers should subsidize farms, and I'd like to read the rationale.

basementcat 7y ago
A colleague (who supports farm subsidies) explained to me that farm subsidies incentivize hard work while education loan forgiveness incentivizes laziness.
dmoy 7y ago
Some degree of farm subsidies are good/necessary just for the sake of food safety and national defense. But, the amount and type of subsidies in the US is way off the charts for just those purposes.
habnds 7y ago
Um, because to win the presidential election you need to do well in the Iowa caucuses and agricultural communities are overrepresentated in the legislature.

gingabriska 7y ago

But what's the rationale behind keeping meat price low. We know meat can be easily substituted with plant based diet, so no one will starve. Meat processing is also resource intensive (for example, it needs large amount of water). We need to price in externalities, even the methane gas released by cattles should be calculated and put on the prices of meat as a tax.

nearbuy 7y ago
I don't think the government is really intentionally trying to keep meat prices down. I think it's a side effect of subsidizing crops. I've heard two reasons for subsidizing crops. 1. The government wants the country to be somewhat self-sufficient for food. If, let's say, there was another world war and imports were cut-off, they want to avoid mass starvation. 2. Crop output from a farm will vary from year to year due to weather and other factors. Without subsidies, during a streak of good crop years, production of that crop will exceed demand and the price will drop. This will cause some farms to go bankrupt (the number of farms will decrease until supply matches demand again). If a bad crop year then follows, you'll have shortages. Subsidies can smooth out these inefficiencies cause by weather by keeping farms alive during the good years so we have enough crops during the bad years.