Al Gore

I realize beating up on Al Gore is a lot like beating up on the little kid getting off the short bus, but I can't help it.

Gore: Dust Bowl coming unless we act

“Think about that,” he said. “The Dust Bowl is coming back, quickly, unless we act.”

Gore conceded the possible fatigue some may have with his warnings, as well as the possible sense of powerlessness as to what any one individual can do to affect what appear to be vast, unchangeable trends.

“Do we really have to do this and — if the answer is yes — can we do it?” Gore said, repeating two questions he routinely hears.

“The answer to both of those questions — spoiler alert — is ‘yes.’ ” 

Al Gore is wrong again, still.  Saying he is wrong isn't really accurate.  Being wrong would entail an honest mistake.  Al Gore is engaged in fraud.  When you build an entire "industry" on the concept of carbon trading and you stand to make a tidy profit off of getting companies to pay you to buy carbon credits, you have an incentive to lie to get others to go along with you.

What Al hasn't said, because he doesn't care, is that there is a real parallel to the 1930's going on today.  The economy is as bad as the great depression.  This is being caused by the very people Al wants to put in charge of fixing the world, bigger government.  The fact that big government is the force destroying America (and almost every place else) is of no concern to Al. 

Is there a threat to the United States food supply?  Yes I believe there is.  That threat isn't related to global warming.  That threat goes back over 40 years to a series of food supply related policies under the Nixon administration and has been followed by every administration since, and magnified under the Obama administration.

So what did Nixon do?  Tricky Dick was faced with a potential problem as reelection time neared.  That problem was the price of sugar.  It was going up.  Back in the 60's America still had housewives (google it, they were great creatures, almost extinct now), housewives cared very much about the price of things they used to feed their families.  The price of sugar was going up, a lot.  The housewives of America were concerned.  There is a second piece of the puzzle.  That piece has to do with corn prices and production.  Production was up, prices were down, farmers were unhappy.  A solution presented its self in the form of advise from Earl Butz.  Fast track High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) into the market place.  This accomplished a reduction in the price of cane sugar and made the agricultural lobby happy. 

When it came to food prices at election time Nixon wanted to "take the issue off the table".  It must have seemed like a big win for the R team.  The outcome for America has been a net loss.   It is considered politically correct to kick Dick Nixon around and blame him for America's woes.  I think that's why we are hearing about the government link with HFCS.  HFCS turns out to be one of the leading culprits in America's obesity crisis.  That's not half the problem.  The government tinkering in artificial foods has lead to other questionable practices in the AG industry.

I don't have the space in one post, or the inclination, to go into the whole Franken-food issue.  The larger point is that every administration since Nixon has engaged in the same type of policy decision making.  Every single one of them has voted/signed/promoted the idea that the government tinkering on a case by case basis can do things better than the market.  In the case of genetically modified food, they believe they can do a better job than God.  In case you didn't know Obummer signed into law (a law voted on and passed by Republicans and Democrats alike)  a special provision for the AG industry, that even if/when GMO foods are proven harmful, they cannot be sued or face other court action, ever.   How's that for a bipartisan win?

We can't fix AG issues by blaming CO2 emissions.  Just like we can't fix the budget deficit by taxing health care.  Of course you can't fix companies laying off workers by making them promise that they aren't laying off workers because they can't afford to pay for the health care. 

To paraphrase Ron Reagan:
A recession is when your neighbor losses his job.  A depression is when you lose yours.  A recovery is when Obama, the congress and 80% of Federal employees lose theirs.

If you really want to "fix", as in make something better, in American public policy, the answer is get the government out of it.  You don't fix big government problems by making another branch of the government bigger, or by passing more laws.