demagogue on 7/7/2006 at 02:19
It imports a lot, but ... let me see if I can find the headline:
Quote:
Japan's rice tariff tops 700% under new WTO formula (Jun 9 2005)
One guy (limosine) posted about it (to get a sense of what some people think) :
Quote:
It's criminal what the price of Thai rice is in Tokyo!!
How do they continue to get away with it? I've never met people so proud of their own rice.
They are very particular about indiginous rice, that's for sure. A medium sized bag can easily cost $40-50, a large bag $80. And that's for
subsidized domestic rice!
But who is going to say Japan can't have security for its rice supply? Seafood is another example.
Edit: Also, even though they import a lot, they have easily the strictest SPS (health and quality)controls on what food they import, and they always have these news programs showing some US FDA decision, like loosening regs on mad cow disease, as if it were the most abhorrent thing. It's a curious thing to watch how particular they can be about food.
TheGreatGodPan on 8/7/2006 at 04:43
I don't know about the U.S since we pay our farmers not to farm in order to raise prices (I've never met anyone who dissagreed with me on the policy being stupid), but yes, eliminating subsidies would raise the price, although the money that used to go to the subsidies would go back to where it came from and toward what people actually want to pay for. In Japan, getting rid of tariffs would greatly lower the prices.
Worrying about the "few rich farmers" in Africa sounds dangerously close to steering you down the wrong path. Even if the farms are owned by a few people, a lot of people work on them and make their living from them. Mugabe tried to "correct the problem" and it has resulted in disaster, with unemployed and hungry people forming shantytowns that he has to bulldoze because of the gathering political threat they constitute. Even though many are now run by his incompetent cronies and friends, anything the outside world did to make it harder for them to compete in the international markets would harm the worst off in Zimbabwe.
Convict on 8/7/2006 at 06:47
Mugabe's insane.
But the possible problem of a few rich farmers becoming richer is a domestic problem that can be addressed through progressive taxation systems and investing in education for other people.
