Right. Because, you know, its goverment’s job to monitor what you eat. And if you won’t eat the correct kind of food they can and should manipulate the economy so that you will.
You know, farm subsidies are bad enough in and of themselves, but the idea that we should be using subsidies to shape public behavior is over the line. The government already does this by fooling with the tax code, but that’s not right either. If I want advice on how to live my life I’ll spend money on a doctor or someone like that. I’m certainly not sending my tax dollars to Washington for it.
And lets not forget about the ridiculous standards being used by these advocates and nanny-state government types to tell us we’re all too fat. According to these measures NFL quarterback Tom Brady is “obese.”
Has it ever occurred to these people that maybe, instead of taking money from the people and redistributing it to farmers growing the “approved” sort of foods, the government should just let us keep our money and buy the kind of food we’re interested in eating?
You know, that whole “personal liberty” thing?
By Rob Port of Say Anything.
“You know, farm subsidies are bad enough in and of themselves, but the idea that we should be using subsidies to shape public behavior is over the line.”
Subsidies are already an attempt to shape public behavior. We are paying subsidies to farmers to keep them farming and producing at a level that keeps crop prices and hence food prices down. The only question left is what food prices do you want kept down.
Doesn’t it seem rather silly for the government to take wealth from the citizens to pay farmers so that food is cheaper for the citizens to buy? Why not just let the citizens keep their money and spend it directly on the food, thus avoiding costly bureacracy and a waste of everybody’s time?
Sorry, but subsidies won’t significantly flip the attitudes of the average man when it comes to food. Think about it – we’re in a society where people who INSIST that they have to work 2 jobs just to get by also INSIST that two or more fast food meals a day is normal.
If they’re willing to pay 5 bucks for a mystery meat sandwich and vegetable oil fries, they’re not going to switch from ground beef and white bread to an apple and rye just for the 10c or so of subsidies that trickle down. Food, and more precisely, fatty foods, are considered an entitlement now.
Farm subsidies have a purpose : they keep farm jobs in the U.S. – where we have careful FDA monitoring and great soil – instead of in places with no minimum wage laws and no cycled crops. Compared to other forms of government interference, I don’t find this too horrible.
The government has been using tax policy to “influence” behavior ever since there has been tax deductions. Buy a hybrid car, get money off.
Heck, what’s a sin tax if not the governments attempt to get you to not do things.