FreedomTalks

Over at Reason, I make the argument that biofuel subsidies are making beer — yes, that all important, all-American brew of choice — more expensive. But that’s not all their doing. As this NYT editorial today points out, they’re also making food, which, no matter how much you love beer, is a wee bit […]

Agribusiness welfare– from farm subsidies to the ethanol fuel mandate– is helping drive up feed and food costs throughout the supply chain.  Congressional and Bush Administration policy favors corn farmers over everyone else, and higher prices are the result of recent changes in U.S. energy (and monetary) policy.  Higher global food prices mean starvation in […]

On the other hand, I’m with Dean Baker and Ezra Klein on this one:
According to an AP article, Monsanto has been lobbying state legislators to prohibit Ben and Jerry’s and other ice cream makers from labeling their product as free of milk from cows that were given growth hormones.
Monsanto claims that such labeling implies that […]

My fellow blogger and former FreedomWorks intern Matt Hittle has a good piece on ag subsidies in his school’s newspaper.
The subsidy program has strayed from its original intent. Rather than aiding needy farmers, the government helps those who need it least: subsidies are paid according to acreage, so large farms and agribusinesses reap the benefits. […]

Time reports that high oil prices may be contributing to higher prices and shortages for the worldwide food market.  Yet right now, liberals are pushing energy policy that would have the effect of making prices higher.  A $16 billion tax on oil companies — which will surely get passed down to consumers — came up […]

This week the Senate will be debating the pending farm bill on the Senate floor. This latest farm policy outrage will cost taxpayers more than $280 billion over five years. It’s a combination of subsidies, tariffs and price controls, all of which are bad public policies. One of the worst giveaways from Big Government to […]