Damocles and his EU

[david and julie]

No doubt the EU and the US do, do this sort of thing, they also then say how sorry they are about the Africa situation, which they help cause. World politics is such a grubby and selfish area.

I was just reading some of the figures from the USDA link and it would seem they are actually trying to reduce subsidies though, which is also what TB is saying to the EU during the current rebate talks.I must admit I couldn't be bothered reading most of the link. It looks to me though as they get(or can borrow) less in 2007 than they could 5 years previously, more so if we allow for inflation.

Loan rates are fixed in legislation:

2002-03 2004-07
Wheat $2.80/bu $2.75/bu
Corn $1.98/bu $1.95/bu
Grain sorghum $1.98/bu $1.95/bu
Barley $1.88/bu $1.85/bu
Oats $1.35/bu $1.33/bu
Rice $6.50/cwt $6.50/cwt
Soybeans $5.00/bu $5.00/bu
Other oilseeds $0.096/lb $0.093/lb
Upland cotton $0.52/lb $0.52/lb
ELS cotton $0.7977/lb $0.7977/lb
Peanuts $355/ton $355/ton
Graded wool $1.00/lb $1.00/lb
Nongraded wool $0.40/lb $0.40/lb
Mohair $4.20/lb $4.20/lb
Honey $0.60/lb $0.60/lb
Small chickpeas $7.56/cwt $7.43/cwt
Lentils $11.94/cwt $11.72/cwt
Dry peas $6.33/cwt $6.22/cwt

 

[Freddie]

council house in manchester

 

[Damocles]

Which I'm afraid rather reflects its true value. Price of land in this country would most likely go the same way if was not for everyone wanting two acres for their horse or speculating on the chance of getting planning permission.

We and the US are paying loads of money to subsidise food production because the world market price is so low. The world market price is so low because all the developed world (and even most likely some of the less developed) are subsidising it like mad so we can all sell it abroad.

The tricky bit is that if we did remove import tarrifs and allow the price to fall within the EU, it could only mean either increasing direct subsidy to farmers, or they go out of business. Whic after all is how markets work.

An interesting idea on the British budget rebate would be to extend the scheme to all members. So everyone gets the same rebate. Should appeal to the Germans, anyway. It would also be doable as the surpluss payments are only a small proportion of the total budget. But it would mean cutting overall expenditure by 10 billion or so, or increasing everyone elses payments by this amount.

 

[Freddie]

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