Bloomberg: America Isn't a Food Superpower Any More (in fact we are a net importer.)

[Gaius]

@7426k

I have trouble believing the answer to this non-existent problem is more government involvement in the dairy market.

Imagine a country that enacted a milk price support, (driving the cost of milk higher),
but a subsidy on sugar and corn (driving the cost of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup down.)

.
.
.
A country like that would probably consume less milk and more sugary drinks and become really fat.

[conan]

@Gaius

Might as well claim I wrote about tinkerbell and designated hitters.

Did YOU!!!

[conan]

American imports of farm goods are forecast to climb 6.5% in the year ending Sept. 30 to $219.5 billion

Why?

Then you went on and quoted Avocado’s and sugar.

Then you quoted the part about

@Gaius

Russia overtaking the US as the world’s top wheat shipper and Brazil surpassing the US as the biggest exporter of corn, cotton and soybeans

Yes currency and subsidies played a part of it…why?

What’s other part of that equations?

You also have companies like Cargill encouraging/helping farmers to gain excess to government farm subsidies while pushing stricken environment regulations to placate Americans to prop up grain prices while investing in grain production from other countries to increase profits.

I told you before that American can compete with any represented country if government just stay the ■■■■ out of it.

Time to step out of that little circle you created for yourself. Lot of other things at play here.

[Gaius]

Don’t double down on stupid.
That’s a tactic for liberals.

[conan]

@Gaius

Don’t double down on stupid.
That’s a tactic for liberals.

Of course…maybe just maybe you’re not as smart as you think?

I’m onto you now…you just let cat out.
So insult me some more…that’s all you have left in your bag.

[7426k]

IF only we had an example, a case study, a natural economic experiment…

[SixFoot]

@7426k

We should probably stop subsidizing low-value-added products like corn and soybeans.

Two of the most garbage excuses for food on planet Earf. I concur.

[Gaius]

@conan

@Gaius

Don’t double down on stupid.
That’s a tactic for liberals.

Of course…maybe just maybe you’re not as smart as you think?

I’m onto you now…you just let cat out.
So insult me some more…that’s all you have left in your bag.

You are right.

I said all that not because of government but because of avocados.
Those arrows I drew? they were all about avocados.

But thanks to you I now see it is not about avocados.
Boy was I wrong to have said it was all about avocados.

I lose you win.
Wow you outsmarted me.

[Gaius]

@SixFoot

@7426k

We should probably stop subsidizing low-value-added products like corn and soybeans.

Two of the most garbage excuses for food on planet Earf. I concur.

Corn is cool.

Among annuals, one of the best things this planet has ever invented.
Potatoes: Can yield around 17.8 million calories per acre.
Corn: Can yield around 15 million calories per acre.
Rice: Can yield around 14 million calories per acre.
Sugarcane: Can yield around 17 million calories per acre.
Soybeans: Can yield around 6 million calories per acre.
Wheat: Can yield around 4 million calories per acre.

[7426k]

It’s so cool that we subsidize it so heavily that we produce so much of it that those calories get turned into… a pretty poor fuel for cars.

I trust the world food market will produce enough corn without us subsidizing it so much we have to turn it into combustion engine propellant.

[JayJay]

@7426k

It’s so cool that we subsidize it so heavily that we produce so much of it that those calories get turned into… a pretty poor fuel for cars.

I trust the world food market will produce enough corn without us subsidizing it so much we have to turn it into combustion engine propellant.

But Monsanto and ConAgra might not be happy…

[conan]

I’m onto you. Instead of looking out in deep end where I thought you were. you’re behind me in shallow end with kiddies playing teletubbies.

[conan]

@7426k

It’s so cool that we subsidize it so heavily that we produce so much of it that those calories get turned into… a pretty poor fuel for cars.

Why are we subsidizing it? Real reason and not what they want us to believe.

[Gaius]

@7426k

It’s so cool that we subsidize it so heavily that we produce so much of it that those calories get turned into… a pretty poor fuel for cars.

I trust the world food market will produce enough corn without us subsidizing it so much we have to turn it into combustion engine propellant.

In most of the world food is a national security issue the way oil is here.

But back to my point.
Where natural monopolies exist, there is a prima facie case for government intervention.

Where natural monopsonies exist, there is a prima facie case for government intervention.

That does not mean that any and all subsidies at any and all levels are good.
And its certainly does not mean that a subsidy for one thing and price support for a competing product would be a good thing.

[Gaius]

[conan]

Is that the best you got? Seriously Bob, one would think with your great intelligence you could craft something original instead of posting other people work.

As I said, I’m onto you.

[Gaius]

I know I’ll have to go elsewhere to attack avocados.
(My avocado-attacking days are numbered.)

[7426k]

The cheap and easy answer: The Iowa caucus. If the first nominating event was in Florida our cars would run on orange juice.

The slightly more serious answer: At one point (the Depression) it seemed important to put in price supports for farmers. 100 years later we’re still stuck thinking as much, and large ag companies have a very ,very vested interest in convincing everyone of such thinking.

^That’s my half-baked take. I am not an ag economist; I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

[7426k]

@Gaius

In most of the world food is a national security issue the way oil is here.

That’s the excuse India used with rice many years ago; starving a bunch of people in the process.

I don’t think ag is a natural monopoly. Would a natural monopoly have the world’s most efficient and advanced futures market? That’s hard for me to wrap my brain around.

What feature of food makes it a natural monopoly? It’s not some high fixed cost / low variable cost thing is it?

[Gaius]

Monopsony, not monopoly.