3/14/15, "Paying Fealty to Farmers," The Economist, The Editors
"When Ted Cruz is the only person talking sense, something is wrong."
"A FEW years ago, while reporting on the madness that is European farm subsidies, this columnist came up with a “Richard Scarry” rule of politics. Most politicians hate to confront any profession or industry that routinely appears in children’s books (such as those penned by the late Mr Scarry). This gives outsize power to such folk as farmers, fishermen, doctors, firemen or—to cite a fine work in the Scarry canon—to firms that build Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. The rule is seldom good news for taxpayers, and there is a logic to that too: picture books rarely show people handing over fistfulls of money to the government.
The Scarry rule was tested afresh on March 7th at the inaugural “Iowa Ag Summit”, a campaign-style forum for politicians pondering White House runs in 2016. Reflecting Iowa’s clout as host of the first caucuses of the presidential election cycle, the summit lured nine putative candidates, all of them Republicans. Democrats were also invited, but declined. Such grandees as Jeb Bush, a former governor of Florida, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey took turns to sit on a dais beside a shiny green tractor, to tell an audience of corn (maize) growers, pork-producers and hundreds of reporters how much they love farmers.
The gathering was an unprecedented show of strength by the farm lobby. Rather than wait for journalists to tease out candidates’ positions over months on the campaign trail, the nine Republicans were each quizzed on stage for 20 minutes by the summit’s organiser, Bruce Rastetter, an Iowa ethanol and pork magnate. His most pointed questions concerned the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a federal mandate..."....(subscription) Image above from The Economist, via Free Rep.
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News.google.com thumbnail of Economist image
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Among comments to Economist article at Free Republic:
"It must've physically hurt them [Economist Editors] to write those words." 2nd Division Vet
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3/9/15, "Ted Cruz Woos Iowa Ag Summit With Principled Anti-Ethanol Subsidy Stance," Breitbart, Dan Riehl
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Federally mandated ethanol blend amounts to $10 billion tax added yearly to motorist costs 2007-2014. E10 blend gets 3-4% fewer mpg than regular gasoline. Ethanol also harms the environment, drives up food costs, and damages small engines-NY Times Op-ed, Bryce:
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