#corn industry

What's up with corn subsidies?

Surplus corn production drove down prices nearly a century ago, worsening the Great Depression (also known as the Super Dysphoria, the Large Downer, the Terrific Disappointment, or the Gigantic Buzz-Kill). Agricultural subsidies helped to steer us out of that Massive Bummer, and corn subsidies have long been the largest. But the largest... downer? Yes, quite probably!

If the corn industry had decreased output to bring prices back up to a profitable level, it would have risked an insurmountable (or just terrifically disappointing) drop in sales. At the same time, there's only so much corn they can sell. Or is there? Well, yes, there is, but they did start producing enough high-fructose corn syrup to choke all remaining endangered whale species (and several horses!) Which only raises more questions about the legitimacy and dubious benefits of propping up such a bloated junk-food--see what I did there--oriented industry. On one hand, food--much like petroleum--must remain affordable to the average family (and people too). On the other hand, we can't have agri-business executives going home with nothing but surplus kernels and syrup in their pockets, nor can we ask that thousands of workers be re-trained at a mere fraction of the cost of current corn subsidies. (I'm not great at math, but that definitely checks out. Fractions are less than a whole, that can't be good.) To put it another way, we can't very well let the strychnine industry dwindle, just because of a few inconvenient murders. And think of strychnine stocks! Strychnine futures! And after all, who ever heard of anyone doing something they don't want to, learning to do something different, or getting a new job? I mean, just because demand is below supply, why should supply go down? That's just crazy-talk, and anti-capitalist. Capitalism being the sole foundation of the Constitution of these most United of States.