

Farm Subsidies Become Target Amid Spending Cuts - pitdesi
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/us/politics/07farm.html?hpw

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anamax
They run that story every 10 years.

In my lifetime, we've added ethanol subsidies, tariffs, and usage
requirements.

There was a suggestion that the mohair subsidy be killed, but I don't think
that it happened.

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pedalpete
If changes are going to be made to the ethanol subsidies, shouldn't changes be
made to oil subsidies as well?

according to this article, [http://www.tradereform.org/2010/11/daryll-ray-oil-
subsidies-...](http://www.tradereform.org/2010/11/daryll-ray-oil-subsidies-vs-
ethanol-subsidies/), if oil subsidies are $150 billion (excluding related
military activity) and ethanol subsidies are $16 billion and ethanol is making
up approx 4% of US oil consumption.

Should oil subsidies be reduced as well?

~~~
anamax
> Should oil subsidies be reduced as well?

Actual oil subsidies, yes. However, that's not relevant to whether ethanol
subsidies are a good idea unless you're arguing that two wrongs make a right.
So ....

As to the "substance" of your claim, the article doesn't cite the alleged
subsidies.

You're not the first person to claim significant oil subsidies. However, when
I've investigated specific claims in the past, I've found them a combination
of wrong and dishonest. Maybe you'll be different.

BTW - The US gets very little of its oil from the middle east. That oil goes
to Europe, so the "military" subsidy is actually a Europe subsidy.

Oil is globally fungible only because the US wants it to be. The US could
easily decide that oil doesn't leave the americas and let Europe fend for
itself wrt the middle east. If that's what you want, fine, but be honest about
it. If that's not what you want, congrats, you're a supporter of the so called
"military subsidy".

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protomyth
They could probably get the cuts through if they agreed to stop / reverse the
current administrations land grab in rural areas.

I would start with ethanol. Some of the subsidies are matching other
countries.

