----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Henwood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 13, 2003 6:20 PM Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Cancun
> Eubulides wrote: > > >Because food is a matter of national security in this cruel world? > >For instance, a nation that is totally or even largely dependent upon > >imported food or imported inputs (e.g., fuels, fertilizers, > >pesticides, etc.) for food production and distribution is vulnerable > >to foreign powers' use of economic warfare (like trade embargoes) on > >it. > >-- > >Yoshie > > > >===================== > > > >Precisely the argument the citizens of Norway use to defend subsidies > >after they were nearly starved to death by the Nazis. > > All that homegrown food would rot in the face of an oil embargo. > > Doug =================== They've got a 400 year supply of oil handy. http://amsterdam.park.org/Guests/Stavanger/sg08.htm I'm not attempting to justify the subsidies but we do need to look at the [cultural] path dependency issues rather than assume all uses of subsidies are inefficient a la economism. Ian
