The Problem with Subsidies
by Michael HoffmanTuesday, December 11th, 2007
Our new site Global Development Matters has launched and I want to share with you some of the videos on the site. The goal with this project is to engage US citizens during this election year on issues of global development. The main point of the project is to convey to Americans that “what happens here, matters there” or as the tag line of campaign says “Our Choices, Others’ Lives.”
The video below is called “The Problem with Subsidies” and it is a look at how US farm subsidies impact farmers in Africa.
What I am struck by in this video is how, with world markets, you have a woman picking cotton by hand in Africa competing with a Texas cotton farmer with giant fields and giant equipment. Add to it government subsidies for the Texas farmer and you have no way these Africans can compete.
