SUBSIDIZING THE AMERICAN DREAM

A long time ago, Nikita Khruschev said:

"We will bury you."

I was just beginning school when Russia's premier made that
statement, and I remember the air raid drills, and the fear
of nuclear attack for a child growing up during the cold war
years. I also remember that hatred of communism taught to me
by my teachers and parents, and the love of all things
American gleaned from Mighty Mouse cartoons and Readers
Digest short stories.

PatrioTISM flourished as a result of that highly critical
statement, which insulted the American way of life by
calling it inferior to the Russian way of life.

What is status of that original American dream?

Russia's premier was referring to capitalism, of course.
Communism and socialism would soon bury capitalism. He
called our system corrupt. He criticized free enterprise
based upon democratic theories. He referred to privately
produced goods and the motivation to earn money as being
corrupt.

I pride myself in being an American Ayn-Randian capitalist,
and now wonder whether Khruschev was right. Did he bury us,
or did we bury ourselves?

I look at today's agricultural subsidies and I get sick to
my stomach. Those in the dairy industry believe that their
way of life and work ethic is closer to that of the founding
fathers and the principles that made America strong. There
was a time when I agreed with them. That is until I found
the following website:

http://www.ewg.org/farm

Click on the above site, find your state, and discover the
state of agricultural subsidies where you live.

The evidence shows that there is so much government control
that Khruschev's system of communism, based upon socialistic
theory, has replaced America's once capitalistic
environment.

If milk producers had to rely upon their own devices, they
would be out of business. Such is the way of capitalism. If
the numbers don't work, you fold up your tent and close the
store. Well, that theory does not apply to the dairy
industry. Even when times are good (as in the year 2000),
the subsidies continued.

In the seven years that I have been writing about milk, the
number of dairy farms has shrunk from 126,000 to 76,000, yet
the subsidies keep rising.

The dairy industry has combined myopic planning with idiotic
marketing (milk mustache ads) and corruption (see
yesterday's bribery column):

http://www.notmilk.com/trickydick.html

The result? A system based upon government subsidies for the
so-called collective good. Consider it a combination of
Groucho and Karl Marx.

Last year, dairy farmers received the highest sustained
prices for their milk. There should have been zero subsidies
to dairymen.

After reviewing the truth of the matter, I am shocked. In
fact, even my favorite Florida dairy farmer received
thousands of dollars in government subsidies during the year
2000.

When a product cannot support itself, it's time to let that
product go.

As Americans learn the dangers of milk and dairy products,
milk consumption decreases. It has been doing so each year
since 1994. That's when the Anti-Dairy Coalition began the
NOTMILK movement.

Fewer people are drinking milk, and the government
regulators, consisting of USDA insiders with ties to the
dairy industry and congressmen who receive PAC donations
from the dairy industry, continue to promote an unsafe
product to children while pouring billions of dollars into
subsidies that ultimately defeat our system.

When you use the chart to find the dairy farms that receive
subsidies where you live, research your own crooks, er,
congressional representatives, and discover how much they
were paid to support this system that no longer works. Teach
those crooks the harm that milk and dairy products cause.
Perhaps there is a chance that they will go straight.
Perhaps we can get back to the principles that made America
strong. Dairy farmers gladly open their arms to embrace this
economic theory:

"From each according to his ability, to each according to
his need."

Subsidies are un-American, and have turned the once American
capitalist dream into a present day socialistic nightmare.

__________________________________________________

Robert Cohen author of:    MILK A-Z
Executive Director (notmilkman@notmilk.com)
Dairy Education Board
http://www.notmilk.com
This file: http://www.notmilk.com/forum/748.txt

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