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Femur posted:Why do we want so much corn? I thought corn was harsh on the soil? Part of Nixon's paranoia was an impending food shortage (which was a real concern before Norman Borlaug and the Green Revolution took off) and corn is the highest caloric density for some metric that escape me (per acre maybe? Per ton of fertilizer? I forget, point it corn has an insanely high caloric density). So Nixon and his ag sec Earl Butz cranked out a bunch of programs to increase corn production as a way to forestall food shortages. It has, in a sense, worked really well. We produce an insanely high amount of calories (and food in general). We are an intensely overweight nation because of all the calories we consume. Its just that, you know, we didn't end up needing it and now it is bad. And while it wasn't created as a political payoff, it is now a political death sustenance to go after. Fried Chicken fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Jul 4, 2014 |
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Jul 4, 2014 01:02
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Then Capitalism took over.. that makes much more sense. My parents live close to a lot of corn fields, it is impressive, the effeminacy of the whole thing. You can get corn 10 for a dollar!
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Jul 4, 2014 01:10
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Femur posted:the effeminacy of the whole thing. Do go on.
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Jul 4, 2014 01:11
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Probably phone autocorrect. I hope.
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Jul 4, 2014 01:14
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Fried Chicken posted:Part of Nixon's paranoia was an impending food shortage (which was a real concern before Norman Borlaug and the Green Revolution took off) and corn is the highest caloric density for some metric that escape me (per acre maybe? Per ton of fertilizer? I forget, point it corn has an insanely high caloric density). So Nixon and his ag sec Earl Butz cranked out a bunch of programs to increase corn production as a way to forestall food shortages. If memory serves there was also some Cold War nonsense going on. It was partly to show how plentiful food was under capitalism by vastly increasing social spending on food. IT MAKES SENSE, GOD drat IT. There was also an idea of getting influence by exporting gently caress tons of grain. In any event, the powers that were at the time decided that we needed to produce as much corn as possible every year no matter what, even if we didn't need it all. To the other question, yes, corn can be hard on the soil but every crop can if you do monoculture farming, which the food industry of America does right now. The policies are kind of counter-productive as the fallout coming from heavy monoculture corn farming manifests elsewhere in groundwater pollution, river pollution, and whatnot. Growing corn requires a lot of nitrates in the soil, which is taken care of by dumping a poo poo load of ammonia all over the land. A lot of which, of course, gets washed away and into all the places water washes into. Of course the issue with monoculture corn crops is the same as monoculture in general. You can't grow the same thing on land over and over again and expect good results or, as we're seeing now, you end up using piles of chemical fertilizers which may or may not cause problems elsewhere. On one hand it's great that America has more cheap calories than we could possibly need but on the other hand we're having a ton of problems thanks to the policy that led to that. Like...uh...dead zones in the ocean. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Mexico_dead_zone#Gulf_of_Mexico It isn't only the soil that's suffering.
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Jul 4, 2014 01:15
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Well, when a flower is ready, it opens up and displays its prize, then a giant machine drives it over.
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Jul 4, 2014 01:18
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How many modern circumstances in America are traceable to "the wise preparations of Nixon"? He was literally (yes literally) Cao Cao with a longer nose.
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Jul 4, 2014 01:28
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The Dust Bowl also led to a lot of socialist policy toward farmers, farming, farming communities, investors, and equipment manufacturers. Several industries were rebuilt in their entirety after the Depression, largely with federal dollars.
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Jul 4, 2014 01:33
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNbTHWU-0OQ The future of the US economy
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Jul 4, 2014 02:17
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SedanChair posted:How many modern circumstances in America are traceable to "the wise preparations of Nixon"? He was literally (yes literally) Cao Cao with a longer nose. Though Nixon was a better poet
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Jul 4, 2014 02:40
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anonumos posted:The Dust Bowl also led to a lot of socialist policy toward farmers, farming, farming communities, investors, and equipment manufacturers. Several industries were rebuilt in their entirety after the Depression, largely with federal dollars. Earl Butz basically undid everything Henry Wallace achieved policywise.
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Jul 4, 2014 02:48
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SedanChair posted:How many modern circumstances in America are traceable to "the wise preparations of Nixon"? He was literally (yes literally) Cao Cao with a longer nose. Nixon could be partly blamed for sowing the seeds of stagflation which can be blamed as one of the big precursors to the subsequent right wing shift in the developed world. His drastic price controls to fix the 72 election hosed up the 70s economy.
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Jul 4, 2014 03:01
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This is one of my favorite documentaries about agriculture in the United States. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvMxIEgbsIo Today there was nothing but good news about the economy, the stock market, and the unemployment rate that fell to 6.1% everywhere except Fox news. 
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Jul 4, 2014 03:23
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:This is one of my favorite documentaries about agriculture in the United States. I wonder if they mentioned that U6 also ticked down .1% (U3 was down .2% for comparison), and was at the lowest post-recession levels? AreWeDrunkYet fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Jul 4, 2014 |
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Jul 4, 2014 03:26
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:This is one of my favorite documentaries about agriculture in the United States. As much as I hate to support Fox News in any way, they're kind of right about this one? The real unemployment rate, if you're counting people who have dropped out of the workforce due to lack of options, people who are underemployed (i.e. wanted a full time position but could only get 1 or more part-time jobs), etc., then the real unemployment rate is 12-14%, depending on what sources you're using and how you calculate it. And that's not taking into account the unemployment rate if you break it down by age/race/etc. I mean, it's kind of good news, but I think we're still in the negative as far as getting back to the number of jobs that existed before the recession.
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Jul 4, 2014 03:26
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Uh if they had been using that U the whole time it would be fine yeah but they have not.
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Jul 4, 2014 03:27
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Rap Record Hoarder posted:As much as I hate to support Fox News in any way, they're kind of right about this one? The real unemployment rate, if you're counting people who have dropped out of the workforce due to lack of options, people who are underemployed (i.e. wanted a full time position but could only get 1 or more part-time jobs), etc., then the real unemployment rate is 12-14%, depending on what sources you're using and how you calculate it. And that's not taking into account the unemployment rate if you break it down by age/race/etc. I mean, it's kind of good news, but I think we're still in the negative as far as getting back to the number of jobs that existed before the recession. Berke Negri fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Jul 4, 2014 |
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Jul 4, 2014 03:31
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Also their use of "real unemployment" is implying the Obama administration is being dishonest, when the report presentation is the exact same as its been forever. Also that 12.1 is also the lowest in six years.
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Jul 4, 2014 03:41
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What are things the Democratic Party and the Republican Party agree on? Are there some?
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Jul 4, 2014 03:42
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Vahakyla posted:What are things the Democratic Party and the Republican Party agree on? Are there some? That Wall Street is good and the poor are bad.
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Jul 4, 2014 03:45
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Vahakyla posted:What are things the Democratic Party and the Republican Party agree on? Are there some? Charter schools.
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Jul 4, 2014 03:45
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Vahakyla posted:What are things the Democratic Party and the Republican Party agree on? Are there some? The two party system rocks.
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Jul 4, 2014 03:46
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Vahakyla posted:What are things the Democratic Party and the Republican Party agree on? Are there some? Giving businesses/wealthy individuals lots of free money (see the 2004 repatriation waiver, Bush tax cuts and credits, etc).
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Jul 4, 2014 03:46
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Vahakyla posted:What are things the Democratic Party and the Republican Party agree on? Are there some? Your only choices are R or D every election and it's going to stay that way forever.
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Jul 4, 2014 03:48
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Drugs are evil and people who possess/buy/sell them deserve to be treated like serious criminals.
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Jul 4, 2014 04:08
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This sums it up pretty well (sorry for the lovely quality).
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Jul 4, 2014 04:12
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More money for us; gently caress you. vs More money for us; gently caress you.
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Jul 4, 2014 04:18
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MaxxBot posted:Drugs are evil and people who possess/buy/sell them deserve to be treated like serious criminals. Except our superpals at Pfizer and Merck.
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Jul 4, 2014 04:26
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Rap Record Hoarder posted:As much as I hate to support Fox News in any way, they're kind of right about this one? The real unemployment rate, if you're counting people who have dropped out of the workforce due to lack of options, people who are underemployed (i.e. wanted a full time position but could only get 1 or more part-time jobs), etc., then the real unemployment rate is 12-14%, depending on what sources you're using and how you calculate it. And that's not taking into account the unemployment rate if you break it down by age/race/etc. I mean, it's kind of good news, but I think we're still in the negative as far as getting back to the number of jobs that existed before the recession. Hm it's weird how they never did this math for the last guy.
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Jul 4, 2014 04:29
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Tatum Girlparts posted:Hm it's weird how they never did this math for the last guy. I remember U6 looking like it was gonna go to 20% under Bush for a little bit. Good times.
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Jul 4, 2014 04:57
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:Today there was nothing but good news about the economy, the stock market, and the unemployment rate that fell to 6.1% everywhere except Fox news. It's funny that they point out the higher measurement now, when they've just spent a decade pissing themselves over the lower measurement hovering at 9%. Nice switch, Fox News.
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Jul 4, 2014 05:17
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mcmagic posted:Don't they know he's a TERRIBLE candidate? Always check the author. Emil Henry was assistant secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush and is now CEO of Henry, Tiger, a private equity investment firm. Ask yourself what group of Americans would benefit the most from a Romney presidency. Private equity investment firms are probably pretty close to the top.
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Jul 4, 2014 11:28
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ToxicSlurpee posted:Your only choices are R or D every election and it's going to stay that way forever. Every (presidential) election (because what are these things you call "down ticket races"? I only know that the big man in the White House controls all policy).
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Jul 4, 2014 13:18
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vyelkin posted:Always check the author. Also right from the article: quote:Disclosure: I served in multiple roles in the 2012 campaign, including adviser to the economic team, television surrogate and fundraiser.
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Jul 4, 2014 13:20
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Earl Butz was responsible for corn subsidies? Did he think corn was the fourth thing black people want?
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Jul 4, 2014 14:20
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Joementum posted:Keep in mind that their alternatives include several governors under active investigation and Rand Paul. What about Jeb Bush?
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Jul 4, 2014 14:24
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fool_of_sound posted:That Wall Street is good and the poor are bad. Pretty much.
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Jul 4, 2014 14:31
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/us/richard-mellon-scaife-influential-us-conservative-dies-at-82.htmlquote:Richard Mellon Scaife, the Pittsburgh philanthropist and reclusive heir to the Mellon banking fortune, whose support for right-wing causes laid the foundations for America’s modern conservative movement and fueled the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, died on Friday. He was 82. Well, this'll change things a little. Not as much as one of the Koch brothers, but it'll be interesting to see.
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Jul 4, 2014 14:46
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:This is one of my favorite documentaries about agriculture in the United States. You should cross post this in the Right Wing Media thread. Maybe find a similar graphic reporting on unemployment when Bush was in office.
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Jul 4, 2014 15:06
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Warcabbit posted:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/us/richard-mellon-scaife-influential-us-conservative-dies-at-82.html Scaife was the Koch bothers before anyone had ever heard of the Koch brothers. I'm sure that his dying regret was that he wouldn't live to try and gently caress up Hillary Clinton's presidential run.
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Jul 4, 2014 15:09
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