Farm subsidies are the most popular form of corporate cronyism among many Republicans. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, this regressive form of ‘progressive’ market intervention garners enthusiastic support from Republican presidential contenders, especially preceding the Iowa Caucuses. Haley Barbour is the latest potential presidential candidate to prostrate on the altar of the farm lobby and support the $20 billion fleecing of the taxpayer. Even with the exit of John Thune from the presidential sweepstakes, the farm lobby still boasts many champions of taxpayer handouts among the 2012 hopefuls.
Yesterday, in an interview with the Daily Caller, Barbour offered the following counterintuitive economic justification of government intervention in the food market. Here are some of his greatest hits:
“What we want to have in the United States is abundant food at a responsibly low price. To do that, we have to have an appropriately large supply of agricultural products. When sales volumes are good, prices are reasonable, there shouldn’t be any farm subsidies. But for natural reasons, nature, or what other countries are doing in terms of how they’re handling their markets, sometimes it is appropriate to have farm subsidies.”
“What you want is to have policies that lead to ample supply and prices that yield good prices for the person at the grocery store but profits for the farmers.”
Let’s expound upon Barbour’s economic theory. Barbour opines that government subsidies, most of which go to wealthy farmers, are often indispensable because they increase food supply and lower prices at the grocery store during rough times. Well, why is food inflation dramatically rising, even as farmers continue to receive record levels of subsidies? Indeed every American (at least those who are not on food stamps) is suffering from the lack of “good prices” at the grocery store.
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