The Biggest Farm Bill Loser

America, it's your responsibility to decide who will emerge victorious from this battle of the bulge. Let's meet the contestants -- the American consumer, the independent farmer and the corporate fat cat. Watch Food & Water Watch's The Biggest Farm Bill Loser and go to http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org to demand a Fair Farm Bill!

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[TheBartman47]

I appreciate this video recognises there is a problem, but the solution is NOT more government. The only real solution is for government to get out of the way and stop subsidizing the corporate fat cat, and then the small farmer will naturally have a competitive edge without any government meddling.

[jazlabaw]

I am sure this video will be just preaching to the choir. Believe me, I am part of that choir. However, it is not just the corporate fat cat who wins but the stock holders too, some of whom probably don't even know when they own stocks in big agri-business something usually only their broker knows and follows. Some of us are woven more into the fabric of capitalism than we care to know.

[Alvarado20002009]

I LOVE IT!!!

[TTStarlight911]

Four dislikes are part of Corporate Fat Cat group.

[TheBartman47]

@CrossSIdeTop Also, your understanding of economics is flawed. Everyone is already paying higher prices BECAUSE of subsidies. Where do you think government money comes from? TAXES, that's where. So, your choice is either pay higher seed prices, or choose lower seed prices and pay more in taxes to fund the subsidies, PLUS a little extra to pay for the buearocracy departments to handle the money exchange. ALL subsidies costs everyone more than what it would if simply left alone!

[TheBartman47]

@CrossSIdeTop You miss the point. No one in their right mind wants GMO seeds. Monsanto has admitted it themselves that if food companies were required to label their products that contain GMO ingredients, it would be like putting a skull and crossbones on the package! It's a LOT more than simply the subsidies, it's the government protecting Monsanto from truth in advertising. In other words, government protected fraud.

[CrossSIdeTop]

@TheBartman47 I know that the government subsidizes agribusiness. Do you honestly think that Monsanto and the like wouldn't be able to ride it out if those subsidies stopped? I'm the one with the simplistic view of government-corporate collusion? To imagine that Monsanto would crumble without subsides is beyond un-realistic. Subsides disappear =/= seed prices rise =/= everyone pays the price =/= Monsantos bottom line takes a shallow dip.

[TheBartman47]

@CrossSIdeTop Apparently either you didn't read my entire post, or you are ignorant of government involvement in agribusiness. Government PAYS the agri-giants with subsidies! And if truth in advertisement would prevail, Monsanto would have to truthfuly label their products as genetically modified, and NO ONE is going to want to eat that. They would go bankrupt without government manipulation.

[FireweedFarm]

FWW remains the best food org, by far. The "choir" almost always fails to understand how farmers get less with subsidies. TheBartman47is all wrong. Commodity crops lack price responsiveness on both supply and demand sides (Daryll E. Ray) so government must manage markets as 1942-1952 (no subsidies). Free markets since 1996 failed. FWW is wrong here: 1950s-70s farmers got reduced prices with no subsidies until 61, and subsidies gave only 1/7 of price reductions. Consumers got $1 trill fr farms.