Let's say a GOP lawmaker in Congress wants to help loyal rural constituents. Is passing a generous farm bill – which comes up for renewal every five years – a good way to do it?
Not so fast. A recent New York Times Magazine article says aid to American farmers can mean bad news abroad. Author Michael Pollan writes that "the farm bill helps determine the price of corn in Mexico and the price of cotton in Nigeria and therefore whether farmers in those places will survive or be forced off the land, to migrate to the cities - or to the United States."
Pollan doesn't use the term "illegal immigration" in this quotation, but I think it is fair to assume that some of the ex-farmers who immigrate here do so illegally. Economist Gordon Hanson suggested the impact of a struggling economy: " Mexico's baby boom entered the labor force during Mexico's two decades of dismal economic performance and decidedly lackluster growth in labor demand. The result has been the surge in Mexican immigration that we have been witnessing."
What's a conservative to do? Bob and Edgar discuss in the latest "Running Gags."
Hat tip to my source in Cambridge...
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. To paraphrase the old sage. You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. Can You?
Steve Bonomo at 11:30PM on Apr 27th 2007
2. Mexico is a corrupt socialist country.. SEE how well it takes care of it's people. Yeah right it's all our fault, they can't feed themselves. Stupid liberal logic.
Illegal aliens are exactly that. You can spin it anyway you want, but they bring little in comparison to what they take. If the 14 million were taken out of the equation, most of the CRISIS would be out of health care, government services, education funding etc. Real wages for citizens would rise. Every time illegals bid less for their labor the entire wage base decreases. When the DEMOCRATS fianally manage to turn this into a socialist nation just where do you think our poor can flee. Canada, Mexico Europe
, surely not to Mexico; they have a very violient and strict immigration policy. Why don't you open borders types just try to cross Mexico's southern border without papers. If you are female you will probably be raped before you are imprisoned. If you are male you might get away with beatings, robbery, and then prison. Liberals are self destructive, but they like to share it with everyone.
joe m at 4:59PM on Apr 28th 2007
3. I read all the articles you linked but you seem to be missing every point. First and most obvious is the fact that rural voters didn't save the Republicans in the 2006 midterm elections, in fact, the Democrats gained ground in the Heartland. So why would the GOP want to reward them?
Secondly, it's the mega "program" crops like wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, etc. that are being subsidized by the government, not the higher priced "specialty" crops like fruits and vegetables. It's the low-priced subsidized program crops that are putting foreign farmers out of business. In turn, the subsidies make program farming as profitiable as unsubsidized specialty farming, which increasingly faces competition from more cheaply-produced produce from foreign sources. So the specialty growers are forming coalitions. I'm sure you conservatives love to hear that.
Excuse me if I'm wrong, but the program crops in the U.S. are harvested by machine (you don't need wheat pickers and soybean pickers), while the profitably of US specialty crops like fruits and vegetables depends, as it always has (read the Grapes of Wrath) on a supply of cheap lavbor.
So if American orange and apple growers are being driven out of business by cheaper oranges and apples from Mexico, it's hard to blame that on illegal immigration (which is why none of the authors of the articles you linked does). If the Mexican and Nigerian corn and rice farmers are being driven out of business by lower-priced subsidized US corn and rice, it may result in immigration (legal or undocumented) to the US, but if the emigres are seeking work in agriculture, it will be in the specialty sector, as it is right now and always has been.
South Florida where I live has a huge and diverse Hispanic population originating from many Latin American countries and the agricultural workers are largely Mexican. They're vital to the economy, and especially, based on the articles you've posted, because of the competition from lower-priced foreign produce. Are these workers undocumented? No.
The other point you're missing is the one about healthy eating. In Mexico and Nigeria, corn is the staple food, whereas in the US, it's primarily an ingredient in soft drinks and processed junk food.
I really don't know the solution, however your analysis is hard to take seriously.
tac at 10:11AM on Apr 29th 2007
4. What is "a good farm bill to help our nation's farmers"? According to the American Farmland Trust (a lobbying group), the goal should be to phase out all program-crop subsidies and replace them with “green payments” that would reward farmers and ranchers for sound land management and resource conservation. Oops .. sorry, Richard, … you don’t want to talk about that. You want to focus on illegal immigration.
Martin at 11:10AM on Apr 29th 2007