government-enforced molestation

[triumphant cracker]

Feds order farmer to destroy his own wheat crops: The shocking revelations of Wickard vs Filburn

wtf? i have a garden and have brought the extra to my local farmers market. oh snap! i'm in trouble!

[jackvance]

Interesting read. Makes me want to read the book.

[boost]

ugh.. the subject matter is interesting, but the authors insistence to state that government is inherently evil in every other sentence is obnoxious to say the least. Also the author clearly points out that the big bad government already has the power that he is trying to stop them from gaining..

[Ash256]

cliffs of article: tyrannical big gubmint wants to destroy local food, congressmen are traitors to americuh's foundations for voting some law or other, blah blah blah wank wank wank

[BooG690]

God, I love Ash's avatar.

[dafu]

God, I love Ash's avatar.

+1

[Monty3038]

I haven't read the link, but this is not surprising. Our government has been subsidizing farmers for a long time to either grow certain non-profitable items or to not grow crops at all, to keep prices where they are/cause shifts beneficial to the market, etc...

I would love to see that stop, but too many are scared the market/economy will collapse if that happens, so it continues.

[wufwugy]

I haven't read the link, but this is not surprising. Our government has been subsidizing farmers for a long time to either grow certain non-profitable items or to not grow crops at all, to keep prices where they are/cause shifts beneficial to the market, etc...

The real issue is that this has absolutely nothing to do with "Big Government". It's about wealthy industry buying public sector regulators. Oftentimes, government is just the messenger. The fact that the populace is brainwashed into trying to shoot the messenger is huge success for those people who are really calling the shots

[Monty3038]

How exactly is it that "Big Government" was brought up. The fact that farmers and politicians have decided that they can't survive without subsidies, tarrifs, etc... I guess I'm confused how that is big industry... I want to understand what you are referring to. Not all political issues are recently started, this happened long ago from what I was taught in school...

[wufwugy]

How exactly is it that "Big Government" was brought up. The fact that farmers and politicians have decided that they can't survive without subsidies, tarrifs, etc... I guess I'm confused how that is big industry... I want to understand what you are referring to. Not all political issues are recently started, this happened long ago from what I was taught in school...

Yes, agriculture has some old school corruption. It was one of the first big ones in the US.

They can survive without subsidies and tariffs, but they don't want to. As usual with corruption, it's a greedy power grab. The wealthiest corporations on the planet receive substantially more subsidies than people on welfare. Not because they need it, but because they can.

Big government was brought up in the article

I haven't followed agriculture industry that closely at all so I can't give specifics. But what its boiled down to is subsidies for various reasons throughout history and corporate power run amok. Read about Monsanto or watch Food Inc to get the jist of it

[Monty3038]

Yes, agriculture has some old school corruption. It was one of the first big ones in the US.

They can survive without subsidies and tariffs, but they don't want to. As usual with corruption, it's a greedy power grab. The wealthiest corporations on the planet receive substantially more subsidies than people on welfare. Not because they need it, but because they can.

Big government was brought up in the article

I haven't followed agriculture industry that closely at all so I can't give specifics. But what its boiled down to is subsidies for various reasons throughout history and corporate power run amok. Read about Monsanto or watch Food Inc to get the jist of it

I'm only informed on the topic by what I learned through school, the newspaper and word of mouth, but in essence, every facet of society, from the farmer growing corn to the big wig executive seems to be corrupting government in a lot of opinions. I remember hearing in the 80's that we subsidized our farmers to not grow crops then import them from other countries, to help the economies there. This seems very counter-productive to me and a horrible idea. But I'm a selfish American who feels helping your own first is a priority...

Anyway, I think that there is a simple solution to corporate power run amok... take away the benefits of that running amok and it will stop. How do you do that? I may have a simplified view, but by reducing government regulation, reducing tax incentives (make everyone on equal footing tax wise) and allowing the market to self correct... but yes, I know that is a pretty simplified view...

[boost]

I'm only informed on the topic by what I learned through school, the newspaper and word of mouth, but in essence, every facet of society, from the farmer growing corn to the big wig executive seems to be corrupting government in a lot of opinions. I remember hearing in the 80's that we subsidized our farmers to not grow crops then import them from other countries, to help the economies there. This seems very counter-productive to me and a horrible idea. But I'm a selfish American who feels helping your own first is a priority...

Anyway, I think that there is a simple solution to corporate power run amok... take away the benefits of that running amok and it will stop. How do you do that? I may have a simplified view, but by reducing government regulation, reducing tax incentives (make everyone on equal footing tax wise) and allowing the market to self correct... but yes, I know that is a pretty simplified view...

Yes, lets curtail corporate power by reducing regulations..

[wufwugy]

I'm only informed on the topic by what I learned through school, the newspaper and word of mouth, but in essence, every facet of society, from the farmer growing corn to the big wig executive seems to be corrupting government in a lot of opinions. I remember hearing in the 80's that we subsidized our farmers to not grow crops then import them from other countries, to help the economies there. This seems very counter-productive to me and a horrible idea. But I'm a selfish American who feels helping your own first is a priority...

Anyway, I think that there is a simple solution to corporate power run amok... take away the benefits of that running amok and it will stop. How do you do that? I may have a simplified view, but by reducing government regulation, reducing tax incentives (make everyone on equal footing tax wise) and allowing the market to self correct... but yes, I know that is a pretty simplified view...

I think you're confusing regulations with bad regulations. Both good and bad exist.

The important thing is to have the public sector have a strong say in regulations. Because if you don't, it's special interest regulations. One, the other, or some of both. There are no other options

The free market is a great thing, but it requires some strong ass regulations to actually keep it free. Don't be fooled by the propaganda. When you hear politicians or pundits involved with business lobbyists talk about "free market", they're lying. It's code for monopoly. A real free market is one that is regulated to actually be kept free for all. We don't have a free market. The existence of megacorps is itself testament to that.

There are many different ways to regulate things well, and you never have an option to "not regulate" simply by definition. The question is whether you want to be regulated by Walmart or by a collection of society including yourself