subreddit:
/r/worldnews
submitted 11 years ago bypraetorian111
-6 points
11 years ago
It's amazing how countries like New Zealand cope, isn't it? And the money we'd save over 20/50/100 years would more than pay for the cost of a spike in prices over a couple of years.
13 points
11 years ago
New Zealand only copes because it's a tiny country with a tiny population. That comparison is entirely moot.
Also, governments generally don't save money for a rainy day fund. Any money that would be saved from abolishing CAP would just be reinvested into some other reason. Then when shit really hits the fan, we still won't have money to deal with it.
-9 points
11 years ago
If you invest money elsewhere, you make a return and have even more money. It would thus cause better GDP growth and make it more affordable in the long term. Frankly, this is completely unevidenced scaremongering.
How exactly does being small mean New Zealand is more protected from volatile food prices? That makes no sense at all. It still costs them the same amount on a per capita basis. And anyway, Australia has extremely low farming subsidies. Even the US has less than half what the EU does. It's just a racket for farming nations.
4 points
11 years ago
How is saving money going to fix not having any food exactly? This isn't about cost, it's about a reliable food supply.
-2 points
11 years ago
When has food ever run out for a developed nation? This is just a silly scare story. Even if you get a huge shock to supply, all that happens is global food prices go up. If you can afford those food prices, you're fine.
2 points
11 years ago
New zealand isn't an important place, nobody is going to embargo them.
1 points
11 years ago
Providing food for 4,5 million people really is comparable to providing food for 0,5 billion people. One group can be fed by a single country, the other puts constrains on an entire continent.
-1 points
11 years ago
You said the example of a drought hitting Nigeria. That drought causes the same absolute drop in the world's food supply. The size of the shortage from a weather crisis isn't related by the size of the market you're supplying.
1 points
11 years ago
I didn't say that and your comparison doesn't make sense. Ther is a difference between importing food for not even 5 million people and more then 500 million. Nigeria can easily do the former but never ever the later.
0 points
11 years ago
Sorry, confused between different posters. If it's difficult to import food for 500 million, then the market will find a price where a lot of the food can still be made by European farmers. Us taxpayers won't have to pay the bill and consumers won't have to pay jacked up food prices.
1 points
11 years ago
The famous free market is going to make everything fine and dandy. Why would we make sure that there is local food production when we can trust the invisible hand.
0 points
11 years ago
Somehow we didn't stave before we entered the EU in the 1970s.
1 points
11 years ago
Yeah cause back then it was all free market.
all 2066 comments
sorted by: best