No Farm Bill
19 November 2007
Editor, The Washington Times
To the Editor:
Among the jobs of any Secretary of Agriculture is to portray the administration as smart, fiscally responsible, and in awe of farmers' goodness and wisdom. Secretary Chuck Connor tries to do his duty in "Farmers deserve better" (November 19).
But those of us who don't work for the Beltway circus should ignore the corny debate over the relative merits of the Bush administration's offensively expensive farm bill against those of Congress's obscenely expensive alternative bill. We should instead tell our "leaders" that the best farm bill is no farm bill. There is no sound reason for government to subsidize farmers or to protect them from foreign competitors. Any farmer or rancher too incompetent to produce food that consumers pay for voluntarily should find other employment.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Washington Times
To the Editor:
Among the jobs of any Secretary of Agriculture is to portray the administration as smart, fiscally responsible, and in awe of farmers' goodness and wisdom. Secretary Chuck Connor tries to do his duty in "Farmers deserve better" (November 19).
But those of us who don't work for the Beltway circus should ignore the corny debate over the relative merits of the Bush administration's offensively expensive farm bill against those of Congress's obscenely expensive alternative bill. We should instead tell our "leaders" that the best farm bill is no farm bill. There is no sound reason for government to subsidize farmers or to protect them from foreign competitors. Any farmer or rancher too incompetent to produce food that consumers pay for voluntarily should find other employment.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday May 6, 2008 at 11:51am