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Which is why most non-failed countries try to self-sustain a large amount of their food requirements and agriculture is subsidized and protected. But it also me

Which is why most non-failed countries try to self-sustain a large amount of their food requirements and agriculture is subsidized and protected. But it also means food export isn't a big business.

lucideer 2y ago
Which countries are these?
- watwut 2y ago
  Pretty much all western ones.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - lucideer 2y ago
    I'm not aware of any Western countries that don't have a significant dependency on imported food (and many with a large food export)
    - watwut 2y ago
      They all subside agriculture and do seek ability to produce necessary food. That does not excludes trade or import - you can live without bananas and oranges if you can't produce them. You needs to produce calories in some form.
jmyeet 2y ago
Let's talk about the way in which the West uses the IMF and World Bank to create economic crises and famine. Specifically, let's talk about Somalia. The playbook is basically this: 1. A country borrows money for some project. There's often corruption involved here (as the leaders siphon off work to make themselves rich); 2. The IMF imposes conditions on those loans. These includes financializing the food supply. Typically, what might've been a self-sufficient agricultural sector tends to get banned from producing food for themselves. Instead they have to produce export crops and buy food from, surprise surprise, Western nations. This tends to lead to a drop in food prices that means farmers can no longer support themselves. They then often become destitute and move to cities to find work; 3. If the loan is for an infrastructure project, it's usually Western companies doing it so the US is funding the IMF to give money to Western companies, basically; 4. As inevitably happens, the currency ends up tanking. The foreign food that decimated local production is now much more expensive in local terms. The government's ability to service the debt also gets savaged; 5. The IMF steps in with "structural programs" (including those like the financialization of agriculture) to take money out of the government to service IMF debt, which has similar devastating effects "austerity" measures do in Western countries; 6. The country is now trapped in debt, so much so that some call this "debt colonialism". This has happened to Haiti and other countries. The point is that Western interference most often comes with destroying agricultural self-sufficiency, creating famine.

Which is why most non-failed countries try to self-sustain a large amount of their food requirements and agriculture is subsidized and protected. But it also means food export isn't a big business.

lucideer 2y ago

Which countries are these?

watwut 2y ago
Pretty much all western ones.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- lucideer 2y ago
  I'm not aware of any Western countries that don't have a significant dependency on imported food (and many with a large food export)
  - watwut 2y ago
    They all subside agriculture and do seek ability to produce necessary food. That does not excludes trade or import - you can live without bananas and oranges if you can't produce them. You needs to produce calories in some form.

jmyeet 2y ago

Let's talk about the way in which the West uses the IMF and World Bank to create economic crises and famine. Specifically, let's talk about Somalia. The playbook is basically this: 1. A country borrows money for some project. There's often corruption involved here (as the leaders siphon off work to make themselves rich); 2. The IMF imposes conditions on those loans. These includes financializing the food supply. Typically, what might've been a self-sufficient agricultural sector tends to get banned from producing food for themselves. Instead they have to produce export crops and buy food from, surprise surprise, Western nations. This tends to lead to a drop in food prices that means farmers can no longer support themselves. They then often become destitute and move to cities to find work; 3. If the loan is for an infrastructure project, it's usually Western companies doing it so the US is funding the IMF to give money to Western companies, basically; 4. As inevitably happens, the currency ends up tanking. The foreign food that decimated local production is now much more expensive in local terms. The government's ability to service the debt also gets savaged; 5. The IMF steps in with "structural programs" (including those like the financialization of agriculture) to take money out of the government to service IMF debt, which has similar devastating effects "austerity" measures do in Western countries; 6. The country is now trapped in debt, so much so that some call this "debt colonialism". This has happened to Haiti and other countries. The point is that Western interference most often comes with destroying agricultural self-sufficiency, creating famine.