On 09/14/2019 12:08 PM, Shadow wrote:
On Sat, 14 Sep 2019 11:38:42 -0600, rbowman
wrote:

On 09/14/2019 10:58 AM, Shadow wrote:
On Sat, 14 Sep 2019 12:16:20 -0400, Bod F wrote:

Yet I don't know of a single organic farmer who has gone bankrupt.

And no tariffs on what they produce either.
Yet another coincidence....

Seems the only common denominator for bankruptcy is ....
TARIFFS.

Tariffs are the proverbial straw. The government has been propping up
agricultural producers for decades. As Earl Butz said when he set USDA
policy 'Get big or get out.' The weaker members of the herd are getting
culled. iirc Brazil brought a complaint against the US cotton subsidies
to the WTO in 2002.

In 2002 our president was a US agent. What was his boss's
name? Hedge? Rush? Brush? Can't remember, it was so long ago.
So, farmers are going bankrupt THIS LAST YEAR because of
something from 2002?
Sounds like something from a Tom Cruise (the actor with the
bad breath) film....

Er, no. Did you miss the entire point that US agriculture is heavily
subsidized and controlled by the government? The latest thing to have
the corn growers' knickers in a knot is Trump is allowing small refiners
to not blend in as much alcohol. The whole gasahol requirement thing was
a gift to the corn growers and now they whine if they think it will mean
less of a market.

Study the history of US soy production. It's not the most useful crop in
the world; you can hardly eat the damn things if they haven't been
modified in some way. I was in Indiana in the '80s and the farmers were
up to their asses in soybeans. The silos were bursting. And yet the USDA
was advising tobacco farmers to grow soy to offset the government
programs against tobacco.

The whole thing is like a Soviet 5 year plan developed by pre-schoolers.
The tariff hoo-hah is just the latest chapter. Why the hell should US
farmers be dependent on a market in China? When you overproduce you have
to dump the product someplace.