Combines Collect Cotton Continuously

Ok, I couldn't resist the temptation of non-sensical alliteration but that headline is semi meaningful. Here's a good article from the NY Times on how U.S. farm subsidies are hurting the world economy, in particular, the poor nations of the world. Most of the subsidies end up going to big corporations rather than small farmers and they end up selling their crops for less than the cost of producing it. This ultimately keeps poor countries from trading their way out of poverty because they can't compete with the artificially low prices of the U.S. crops even though their actual cost of production is less than ours.

Originally created during the Depression to help farmers survive and to promote the stable growth of American agriculture, subsidy programs have continued in part because of strong lobbying by farm groups. These groups argue that, in addition to helping farmers, subsidies serve consumers by keeping the prices of manufactured goods low. Oxfam, however, says the impact of subsidy reduction on consumer prices would be miniscule.

United States trade officials and cotton producers suffered a blow in June 2004 when the World Trade Organization ruled that American cotton subsidies violated international trade rules by depressing world prices and harming farmers in Brazil and elsewhere. A trade appeals court affirmed this ruling in March, but the subsidies have continued. Government payments to American cotton farmers have totaled $16 billion in the last seven years.

Unfortunately, the article quotes renowned macro-economist Minnie Driver cause she and other celebs are involved in a new Oxfam photo campaign protesting U.S. farm subsidies.

This is an informative article for the uneducated like me and it caught my eye cause Kat and I were just talking about this topic the other day and how a friend of hers did a whole masters degree on this situation.