Comments by "Peter Cohen" (@panpiper) on "Louise Fresco on feeding the whole world" video.

  1. "Doubled food production will more than double populations. BAD IDEA!" You could not possibly be 'more' wrong. Do your homework.
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  2. Removing the trade barriers of farmer subsidies would allow the poor of the world to more effectively compete, increasing their standard of living. The increased competition and greater incentives for innovation and investment would ultimately reduce the cost of food, making food that much more affordable for all, wealthy and impoverished alike.
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  3. Virtually the whole of the world's population growth occurs amongst the world's poorest people. While virtually all of the world's wealthy societies have a shrinking population (mitigated by immigration). The key to stopping population growth is to get the world's poor, much more wealthy. One of the keys to that strategy is giving them the opportunity to compete for jobs in the world market. Another crucial ingredient is making food affordable enough.
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  4. It is also dangerous to over extend the metaphors of philosophy into the realities of the world. Some things ARE necessary to the survival of the planet, and getting the poor wealthy enough to afford a clean environment and a healthy future are among them. And there is only so much that can be said in a 500 character box. Were I able to write tomes, I could go on at length as to how sales taxes are better than income taxes, how health insurance is best provided by government, etc. etc..
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  5. The solution IS simple, and made complex only when governments meddle to reduce the quantity and quality of the free market and with their regulations 'make' things more complex. The ability to feed one's kids, to educate them, to house,clothe and get them medical care, all that IS wealth. And nothing creates wealth more efficiently than capitalism. Governments do not create wealth, they consume it. Wealth is only created by people making profit, meaning they produce more than they consume.
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  6. Subsidizing farmers in wealthy countries is simply a trade barrier to foreign competition as well as an impediment to efficiency and innovation. And that efficiency and innovation is what this talk was all about. Let us give the incentive to farmers to make those investments by eliminating the subsidies. It will make food more expensive for the wealthy (the people living in wealthy countries), but taxes could also be reduced proportionately (increase the minimum deduction).
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