(07-02-2018 12:56 PM)200yrs2late Wrote:  

(07-02-2018 12:36 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  

(07-02-2018 11:48 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(07-02-2018 08:31 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Crazy to me that Trump has moved Republicans to 1980s Dick Gephard style democratic positions on trade. This is an issue Reagan won... he forced the democratic party to move on the issue and now we have republicans celebrating protectionism. It's amazing to me.

Protectionism is not whats going on. Free trade is free trade. If Canada and Europe have tariffs on any of our products---then how exactly is that free trade? Trump has proposed a completely tariff free zone between the nations of the G7. Thats what free trade is. Letting our trading partner exercise protectionism while the US embraces a completely free trade model is simply is a recipe to make jobs the #1 US export.

Does free trade involve removing US Subsidies on oil and agriculture?

A tariff free trading zone in the G7 sounds all fine and dandy, but how does that work when the government hands billions of dollars in direct subsidies to corn producers?

Do you like to eat? Serious question.

No, that's not a serious question.

But anyway, I'm not proposing we scrap agriculture subsidies... I'm just trying to say that Trump doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to "free trade".

His exact quote was:

"No tariffs, no barriers, that's the way it should be — and no subsidies,"

So whose subsidies is he referring to then? Because we have a bunch of our own. And I'm sure the voters receiving them as well as the congressmen and women representing them would not like them to disappear.

When people like Attackcoog bring up that line about a tariff free G7, they always seem to omit the part about subsidies.

(07-02-2018 01:08 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  

(07-02-2018 12:56 PM)200yrs2late Wrote:  

(07-02-2018 12:36 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  

(07-02-2018 11:48 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(07-02-2018 08:31 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Crazy to me that Trump has moved Republicans to 1980s Dick Gephard style democratic positions on trade. This is an issue Reagan won... he forced the democratic party to move on the issue and now we have republicans celebrating protectionism. It's amazing to me.

Protectionism is not whats going on. Free trade is free trade. If Canada and Europe have tariffs on any of our products---then how exactly is that free trade? Trump has proposed a completely tariff free zone between the nations of the G7. Thats what free trade is. Letting our trading partner exercise protectionism while the US embraces a completely free trade model is simply is a recipe to make jobs the #1 US export.

Does free trade involve removing US Subsidies on oil and agriculture?

A tariff free trading zone in the G7 sounds all fine and dandy, but how does that work when the government hands billions of dollars in direct subsidies to corn producers?

Do you like to eat? Serious question.

No, that's not a serious question.

But anyway, I'm not proposing we scrap agriculture subsidies... I'm just trying to say that Trump doesn't know what he's taking about when it comes to "free trade".

His exact quote was:

"No tariffs, no barriers, that's the way it should be — and no subsidies,"

So whose subsidies is he referring to then? Because we have a bunch of our own. And I'm sure the voters receiving them as well as the congressmen and women representing them would not like them to disappear.

When people like Attackcoog bring up that line about a tariff free G7, they always seem to omit the part about subsidies.

I'd be interested to know what he has in mind for subsidies across the various industries. Perhaps he was talking about export subsidies.

Farmers in the US are stretched to the limit and already operating at a loss in many circumstances. Inputs (fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides) are getting more and more expensive while prices are heading south. Operating costs and overhead can be better anticipated, but it's not like land rent,labor, and equipment are getting cheaper either.

I'm a secondary operator on a small family farm (150 acres). We're lucky to gross $250 per acre on a year where hurricanes or dry weather don't ruin the yield.