I'm often ranting about trade, ag trade in generall, but the rant can expand to many of our domestic ag policies as well (which also do have big effects on trade). All countries partake in versions of this -- I get it -- and it's never going to be some pure set of perfect programs, whatever that even means. However, can we really not do better than this?

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/05/05/476876371/u-s-to-ship-peanuts-to-feed-haitian-kids-aid-groups-say-this-is-wrong

I'm in the middle of a multi-year absurd "catfish" issue that should never have existed and this is just another example of how we do some of the most perverted things with our ag policies. I don't think it is remotely credible to say "unintended consequences" on things like this -- outcomes are entirely foreseeable and we even repeat the same mistakes. If we really want to help, how hard would it really be to say "wait, let's figure out how to help Haitian growers get their product more efficiently to kids even this year if it is really this kind of nutrition emergency"? -- and if this proves impossible, then we can help with our surplus product (which should not really exist in the first place but for curious policies). We are truly not capable of providing this kind of distribution help? That would be a sad statement.

I'd also say the first reaction shouldn't be to shrug our shoulders and say "see, this is just today's world of big corporate lobbying and political corruption". In some cases, sure this is an aspect of things and the dollars can be obscene (see our Sugar policies). However, this is not some new, modern mega-corporate phenomenon and sometimes it is a very narrow set of constituencies with minimal support in terms of dollars, but nobody wants or cares enough to question things. Or when one even questions something, he is shouted down as being anti-farmer or not caring about domestic policies. So policies just build and build on each other. Again, I know ag policies can be tricky and governments are always going to have their hand involved. There are issues in every single country and it isn't a matter of just saying we will stop with our subsidies in complicated world markets where often times these policies become negotiating chips on other things. However, we can do so much better than almost certainly hurting peanut farmers in Haiti right now while we try and find things to do with our government-influenced surplus.




[Post edited by fishhoo at 05/26/2016 11:42AM]