17 November 2009

Food, Inc.

Chickens now produce more meat in less time (why is this bad?).

Multinational corporations are just trying to make profits (why is this surprising?).

And all food is corn. Why? Because the US government's subsidies to corn farmers cause them to produce way more corn than people demand, making it so cheap that food companies include it in their products to take the place of actual food, which is more expensive. High Fructose Corn Syrup. Maltodextrin. Di-glycerides. I don't even know what these are, but apparently they all come from corn. And they make junk food cheaper relative to more nutritional food, creating a system of incentives that perpetuates diabetes and obesity, especially among the poor. But that still doesn't exhaust the massive surplus of corn produced by American farmers. So we send it to Africa, where it's so cheap that people eat it rather than buy food from African farmers, who subsequently go out of business, leaving the country dependent on US "aid."

Answer: kill subsidies.

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