The far left site Reddit had a post recently go viral in which a young woman complains about farmers being predominantly Republican and says America should not support farmers. She claims that people in cities subsidize farmers. These are claims the far left has been making for awhile now.
I own a good sized service company that is based in cities, as well as a smaller farm that is rural. I have personally experienced the economics of both in depth and have some information to add that may aid understanding.
The United States has had the global reserve currency for over half a century now at least. That means most transactions outside of our county are performed using our currency. When India buys oil from Russia, this is most often done using USD as neither country trusts the others currency. The result of this is that there is an enormous demand overseas for our money. In return for the money we send them, other countries send us their goods at VERY cheap prices for us in the country. Those cheap prices feel good for the population, but they have completely eroded the US manufacturing base and agricultural base. On the other hand, it has massively subsidized our services businesses since those cannot be imported.
The global reserve currency has made it much easier for services businesses like my web design and marketing agency to succeed, and much more difficult for goods producing businesses like my farm to make it. It has concentrated wealth in cities, while completely draining the countryside and industries of America.
The world is changing rapidly and the USD appears to be quickly losing it’s trust and possibly its status as the global reserve currency. When that happens, our services businesses will shrink dramatically and as we have no industry, what follows will be a time of hardship and shortages. Especially for those in cities.
I support high tariffs as they will bring on some pain now, but reduce the pain of the much more dangerous time when the USD is dropped as the global reserve currency. Tariffs allow for American manufacturing and farming to compete against foreign products, and allow our industries to start to rebuild. It will take time and the consumer will have to pay more, but it is very important that we do this ahead of the reserve currency collapse.
Beyond the global reserve currency issue, America has passed the strictest labor and environmental rules in the world. We cannot force our businesses to follow those rules, while simultaneously allowing foreign nations using slave labor and toxic environmental damage to import super cheap goods. It’s morally wrong, not to mention extremely foolish.
My experience of owning the farm and talking firsthand to many farmers is that farming is a very hard business with very low or nonexistent profits. Many farmers are going out of business or are struggling on a knife’s edge barely making it. If America loses our farmers, we lose our food. I am guessing most of us like to eat. We should do everything we can to support farmers.