“From 1995 to 2010, the government handed $16.9 billion in farm subsidies to people involved in making four common junk food ingredients: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, and soy oils. Over the same time period, $262 million went to subsidizing apples. ”
“CALPIRG did some math: “If these agricultural subsidies went directly to consumers to allow them to purchase food, each of America’s 144 million taxpayers would be given $7.36 to spend on junk food and 11 cents with which to buy apples each year,” CALPIRG said in its statement. That’s “enough to buy 19 Twinkies but less than a quarter of one Red Delicious apple.”
Yet another one to file under “No Shit, Sherlock.”
And we subsidize these assholes directly by buying this unhealthy food.
I’m so happy to see a slow but definite emergence of a kind of “common sense.” We’ve still got a long way to go, but perhaps one day we’ll all be able to understand how any system taken to the extreme (like capitalism) is a bad thing (sure, you and I know how obvious this is, but most folks? CLUELESS). For years I’ve been hearing about how companies have a right to do what ever they want because they’ve got to earn a living.
“Hey, the government is giving handouts to farmers? They should take ‘em! I’d take ‘em!”
“Outsourcing jobs and salaries to other countries? Good for them! Companies need to make as much money and save as much money as possible!”
“Companies can give as much as they want to political campaigns? Why not? They’ve got as much a right to representation as we do!”
I could go on, but I really really don’t want to. :(
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