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All this talk of farmers being subsidized and farmers losing the farm and too many soybeans and so on, makes me wonder if America just produces too much food.
If other countries don't want to buy from us, maybe we should just cut production to accommodate the countries who want it.
It's a fact. America produces a huge amount of agricultural products. Maybe it's a good idea if we don't produce so much. The idea that China threatens to "not buy soybeans" seems a little strange. So we say, OK. Don't. And then we stop producing so much.
Are there too many farmers in America?
It's been over 50 years since Catch-22 was first printed...
Quote:
Major Major’s father was a sober God-fearing man whose idea of a good joke was to lie about his age. He was a longlimbed farmer, a God-fearing, freedom-loving, law-abiding rugged individualist who held that federal aid to anyone but farmers was creeping socialism. He advocated thrift and hard work and disapproved of loose women who turned him down.
His specialty was alfalfa, and he made a good thing out of not growing any. The government paid him well for every bushel of alfalfa he did not grow. The more alfalfa he did not grow, the more money the government gave him, and he spent every penny he didn’t earn on new land to increase the amount of alfalfa he did not produce. Major Major’s father worked without rest at not growing alfalfa. On long winter evenings he remained indoors and did not mend harness, and he sprang out of bed at the crack of noon every day just to make certain that the chores would not be done. He invested in land wisely and soon was not growing more alfalfa than any other man in the county.
Neighbors sought him out for advice on all subjects, for he had made much money and was therefore wise. “As ye sow, so shall ye reap,” he counseled one and all, and everyone said, “Amen.”
Major Major’s father was an outspoken champion of economy in government, provided it did not interfere with the sacred duty of government to pay farmers as much as they could get for all the alfalfa they produced that no one else wanted or for not producing any alfalfa at all. He was a proud and independent man who was opposed to unemployment insurance and never hesitated to whine, whimper, wheedle and extort for as much as he could get from whomever he could.
It's been over 50 years since Catch-22 was first printed...
Thank you for that quote. It is so true even today. If it floods, farmers get money. If there's a cold front, farmers get money. Short growing season? Farmers get money. Now apparently the are stockpiling crops like soybeans and other crops while we give them $50 Billion in subsidies and tariff relief - and don't forget, Trump recently gave them almost $2B for broadband. Farmers are the definition of socialists.
Thank you for that quote. It is so true even today. If it floods, farmers get money. If there's a cold front, farmers get money. Short growing season? Farmers get money. Now apparently the are stockpiling crops like soybeans and other crops while we give them $50 Billion in subsidies and tariff relief - and don't forget, Trump recently gave them almost $2B for broadband. Farmers are the definition of socialists.
It's just as bad as all the women who have too many babies than they can afford, and us tax payers are stuck with the bill. I know a woman who is in her 40's who purposely went out to the clubs to get knocked up, once when she was 41, and again when she was 45, so she can reap the benefits of being a single mother with two young kids. She is planning on living off of her kids for at least another 18 years, and then she will be at the retirement age. Now I will say, she does work hard. She is a solderer at a local manufacturing plant, and she helps her sister bake cakes at her bakery and does sell home made clothes in her free time, but at the same time, she can get assistance to buy a nice condo from Hud, get EBT cards and WIC, assistance with her utilities and electric, and even cable, all because of those two girls she has. But a single woman or man with no kids, who work just as hard and make as much money, sometimes less than she, will get no help, whatsoever. So, I have to ask, is that fair?
Thank you for that quote. It is so true even today. If it floods, farmers get money. If there's a cold front, farmers get money. Short growing season? Farmers get money. Now apparently the are stockpiling crops like soybeans and other crops while we give them $50 Billion in subsidies and tariff relief - and don't forget, Trump recently gave them almost $2B for broadband. Farmers are the definition of socialists.
If you don't want to eat any more, then yes there are too many farmers. Good luck with that.
At least one thing the government is doing wrong is subsidizing the wrong food types. It shouldn't be cheaper to buy a pack of cookies than it is to buy a good salad.
It's just as bad as all the women who have too many babies than they can afford, and us tax payers are stuck with the bill. I know a woman who is in her 40's who purposely went out to the clubs to get knocked up, once when she was 41, and again when she was 45, so she can reap the benefits of being a single mother with two young kids. She is planning on living off of her kids for at least another 18 years, and then she will be at the retirement age. Now I will say, she does work hard. She is a solderer at a local manufacturing plant, and she helps her sister bake cakes at her bakery and does sell home made clothes in her free time, but at the same time, she can get assistance to buy a nice condo from Hud, get EBT cards and WIC, assistance with her utilities and electric, and even cable, all because of those two girls she has. But a single woman or man with no kids, who work just as hard and make as much money, sometimes less than she, will get no help, whatsoever. So, I have to ask, is that fair?
No its not fair, but we as a Nation don't do it for her. We do it for her kids to make sure they are taken care of. But it pisses a lot of people off and rightly so when people misuse programs. I became disabled a number of years ago and am fortunate that i do not require things like hud or sect. 8 housing but it ticks me off that the waiting list is many years long for even the disabled because people do what she has done. Unfortunalty this situation is not going to change soon since our culture has "evolved" where such behavior is no longer considered shameful.
It's just as bad as all the women who have too many babies than they can afford, and us tax payers are stuck with the bill. I know a woman who is in her 40's who purposely went out to the clubs to get knocked up, once when she was 41, and again when she was 45, so she can reap the benefits of being a single mother with two young kids. She is planning on living off of her kids for at least another 18 years, and then she will be at the retirement age. Now I will say, she does work hard. She is a solderer at a local manufacturing plant, and she helps her sister bake cakes at her bakery and does sell home made clothes in her free time, but at the same time, she can get assistance to buy a nice condo from Hud, get EBT cards and WIC, assistance with her utilities and electric, and even cable, all because of those two girls she has. But a single woman or man with no kids, who work just as hard and make as much money, sometimes less than she, will get no help, whatsoever. So, I have to ask, is that fair?
I know a former Iraq vet who is very right wing. He just had a baby with his girlfriend. The baby was born months early and was in NICU for all that time. The girlfriend is on Medicaid and they have no intention of marrying because the baby will be expensive and plus all the benefits she receives. He does not see how his right wing views contradict with his actions, just like the farmers. They say one thing and do the opposite. The farmers are such a classic example now though and I do think we have too many farmers.
Thank you for that quote. It is so true even today. If it floods, farmers get money. If there's a cold front, farmers get money. Short growing season? Farmers get money. Now apparently the are stockpiling crops like soybeans and other crops while we give them $50 Billion in subsidies and tariff relief - and don't forget, Trump recently gave them almost $2B for broadband. Farmers are the definition of socialists.
This latest nonsensical rent just serves as further proof that most of the Left-leaning and self-aggrandizing "agricultural critics" who seek to dominate threads like this one have no idea what they're spewing about.
As of the 2012 Census of Agriculture, there were still more than 2 million Americans engaged in farming of some sort (as measured by the filing of an IRS Schedule F) -- anything from beekeeping to the seasonal sale of small (Holiday season) trees, but a substantial of them did so only as a sideline to other employment. Banks in grain-producing areas sometimes post the spot prices of corn and soybeans right alongside the NYSE or Dow-Jones averages because "cash corn" in an elevator is as reliable as any other measure of wealth.
Last edited by CaseyB; 08-02-2019 at 04:29 PM..
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