Editor:
Ron Hunter’s opinion, in Doha deals with agriculture in the July 31 issue of Farm and Dairy, is a glowing example of drawing improper conclusions from accurate data.
Placing the blame for failure of the talks on developing countries like India and China and suggesting they need to stop speaking from a subordinate position and assume a “leadership” role is preposterous.
It’s exactly this type of “misthink” that led our nation into the abyss of economic, political, and perhaps even some moral decay which we now find ourselves.
But then … Ron Hunter appears to be rich in jurisprudence but poor in economics despite a resume that includes international service.
Supporting this contention is the fact he held office for George W. Bush … our simple sentence, single syllable, narrow-minded, double digit IQ decider.
And we all know from performance — save for Cheney — no one in that administration had a higher IQ.
Hunter points to World Trade Indicators reflecting most open countries are the most prosperous and suggests the correlation he sees is a cause and effect relationship. Nonsense!
America cultivated its economic strength by sowing tariff, duty and subsidy seeds. And we still do.
Look at the subsidies in the farm bill. Look at sugar. Hunter needs to spend a bit more time reading economics books — like Bad Samaritans by Ha-Joon Chang.
But then, Chang is a noted economist, with an IQ in triple digits.
I’m afraid our nation will just have to wait for a presidential candidate who can read facts and draw accurate conclusions. It’s evident the Republican administration is incapable of doing that for the America people.
Developing nations do need special dispensation as India proclaims. Fair trade is far from fair at the moment.
Developed countries need to look back at their own road to success and help those still struggling.
This isn’t all about simply expanding markets. Just what benefit do I as a nonfarmer derive from the fact the U.S. has been successful opening up the beef market in South Korea again.
I read right here in these very pages not long ago this is expected to add $10 to $15 more to beef. I see how the beef distribution chain benefits but I’m a little nearsighted when it comes to the roast on my dinner table.
These are complex issues requiring educated individuals with more than law degrees and political service to resolve.
The failure at Doha was not that of the developing countries fearing the destruction of their agricultural market place. It was our own Congress that can’t stop subsides and special interests in its own farm bill!
As long as developing countries can point to that objection, they have a point, and the world will continue to trade a little less fairly.
John Gregory
Akron, Ohio
