Report: U.S. spending billions of dollars to subsidize junk food

[The Northerner]

A new report released this week has found that, among the billions of dollars spent each year in federal subsidies for commodity crops, a steady flow of these taxpayer dollars are going to support high fructose corn syrup and three other common food additives used in junk food.

The report, “Apples to Twinkies: Comparing Federal Subsidies of Fresh Produce and Junk Food” by CALPIRG and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, studies the interesting question of whether the nation's problem with obesity is fueled by farm subsidies.

From 1995 to 2010, $16.9 billion in federal subsidies went to producers and others in the business of corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch and soy oils, according to the report.

The findings come as the White House has been rallying to battle childhood obesity, and Congress is poised to potentially either quash or curtail direct farm subsidy payments in the future.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/09/taxpayers-funding-junk-food-farm-subsidies.html

[dkf]

1. All because Iowa is the first in the primaries.

Sick.

[Itchinjim]

3. Kids are obese because Iowa has the first caucus?

Explain please.

[eShirl]

5. What do they grow a lot of in Iowa?

[Itchinjim]

10. What do they grow alot of in Illinois?

Or Nebraska, or Indiana, or Minnesota, or Missouri, or Wisconsin, Ohio and the Dakotas? What does childhood obesity have to do with the Iowa caucus?

[underpants]

9. Partially yes (that and ethanol)

I would highly recommend "Food Fight" by Daniel Imhoff - a great book

Corn is not priced-to-market it is priced-to-yield meaning the more you grow the more you make regardless of the level of supply. Why? Because of subsidies (the aren't technically subsidies) like the one in this article.

For you and me we may not buy that much sugar but if you produce food products you do - tons of it weekly. Americans pay about $1 more per pound of sugar than anywhere else in the world. Why? Because of the price floor on sugar established by contributions and support from "Big Sugar" (Louisiana and Florida mostly). So if you need tons of product weekly are you going to pay $1 per pound more or are you going to get something cheaper? Corn products are much cheaper and because they are so cheap you use more meaning that there is more calories in the food.

Another byproduct of our flooding the world with corn is "illegal immigration". Of the 10-14 million people here illegally (because we did away with Ellis Island type operations thanks to Tyson foods, Smithfield packing, and agribusiness not wanting people who might organize) about 4 million are here because they can't make a living growing corn in central America like generations in the families had. They can buy corn cheaper than they can grow it themselves.

Another byproduct of corn is the "prairie potholes" in the northern midwest (Dakotas Minnesota). The more you grow the more you make. So they fill in all space possible to grow more corn. This forces the migrating birds closer to farm livestock, "bird flu" is a real threat. The swineflu outbreak a few years ago did not start on "Pedro's farm" it starting in a CAFO (Centralized Animal Feeding Operation) a massive pork operation in Mexico (cheaper). In 80 years 50% (or is it 50 years and 80%?)of the world's population will have contacted illnesses carried by fowl as their migration moves closer to areas of population. Ducks Unlimited has a whole operation to combat and bring attention to the prairie potholes. I can't find any evidence of it (found two conflicting university studies) but the almost yearly flooding in the Dakotas is likely to be another byproduct from filling in all this watershed (sugar beats are the second crop in that area).

Another byproduct of corn is herbicides and fertilizer running into the Mississippi River that runs into the Gulf. There is a dead zone for fishing at least 50 miles wide as underwater plants have grow and sucked all the oxygen out of the water - fish don't go where they can't breath.

Oh and ethanol. It wears down small engines taking 5-10% of their effective life. Why ethanol? Well this is an interesting study of modern politics. Bush comes out and says, "We are addicted to oil" in a SOTU speech and forces ethanol into gas (you are welcome Agri-business). Suddenly actual environmentalist are allowed on the air and when asked they say.....wait WHAT? ...THEY HATE ETHANOL - for most of the reasons cited above. The last enviro I saw asked about ethanol was on Colbert's show and Stephen was SHOCKED that he didn't like it. That was in November of 2007. Wait four months and everyone from Hillary to McCain thinks that ethanol is the bestest idea evers. Why? Because it is February 2008 and they are gearing up for the Iowa caucus.

[dkf]

11. Watch "Food, Inc". It's a must see.

[Itchinjim]

12. I prefer to blame obesity on New Hampshire's first in the nation primaries,

a their massive maple syrup subsidies. :-)

[dkf]

13. No seriously. Food Inc was a huge eye opener for me.

When you realize how distorted our food supply is because of our corn subsidies you will be appalled. Not everything was meant to eat corn, but that has become the main feed for all our meats. Cows now don't have the same nutritional value as they used to.

And because there is such a flood of subsidized corn production they have learned to make or engineer every part of it into something that is consumed or used.

The whole food supply has become bastardized and it's not good for us.

[cutlassmama]

2. Perhaps the death panels want to kill us all with diabetes so we won't use SS

[HereSince1628]

6. People don't get diabetes from eating sugar,

However, obesity is associated with a higher risk of a metabolic condition resulting from cellular stress in which liver cells lose regulatory control over a process that generates new glucose (glyconeogenesis). The resulting unregulated increase in glucose production contributes to hyperglycemia--high blood sugar.

The mechanism that makes the cells of many obese people more prone to this problem isn't completely understood (not all obese people develop type II diabetes). What is known is that stress related changes in the activity of intracellular membranes involved in the assembly of proteins impact the function of a protein identified as CRCT2 involved in regulation of gene expression of enzymes involved in the glucose synthesis. The result is that the gene expression promoted by CRCT2 gene is always turned on thereby enhancing glucose (sugar) production.

[ellisonz]

4. Cut the fat.

[SpiralHawk]

7. Big Ag (R) gut its greazy mitts out to shove crap down America's gullet

CUT CUT CUT the crap (R).

[no_hypocrisy]

8. Not just corn, but rather, Monsanto GM corn.