People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity

Re:People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity by zdragnar on Sunday March 19, 2023 @05:44PM (#35223989)

So food prices skyrocket to make up for the lack of subsidies, and everyone gets a food purchase subsidy to make up for the high food prices since nobody wants people starving in the streets. Heck, Minnesota just became the fourth state to offer breakfast and lunch for free to all students regardless of ability to pay.

You can shuffle the board around however you want, but the truth is that agriculture (and therefor rural life) is going to be paid for one way or another.

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Re:People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity by nayuki on Sunday March 19, 2023 @11:36PM (#35226959)

So let food prices rise. This is a more honest method of accounting, because it is the people consuming the food who pay the cost of producing the food.

The status quo is that people indirectly pay for food through taxes, higher service cost, and other distortions that have no relation to how much food they consume. They are forced to pay a subsidy whether they like it or not.

Don't forget foreigners: If your country has a subsidized food production system and you're exporting food, then foreigners are benefiting from your subsidies. (This is actually a debate in Canada vs. USA regarding milk.)

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Re:People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity by alexb_ on Monday March 20, 2023 @11:50AM (#35233379)

>So let food prices rise.

"Let them eat cake"

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