RE: virus: Re: Memes and Jello

Robin Faichney (r.j.faichney@stir.ac.uk)
Fri, 23 May 1997 09:50:00 +0100


Gifford, Nate F wrote:
>Your tax
>dollars go toward agricultural subsides, your long distance rates
subsidize
>rural phone service, your postal rates subsidize rural mail delivery,
your
>state tax dollars subsidize rural roads and schools .... I believe the
>thing driving these subsidies is the American ideal that we are a
nation of
>farmers.

European farmers are heavily subsidised too. Economists say this
is for political, rather than economic, reasons. The political power
of French farmers is pretty well known (in the UK at least).
Membership of the European Union means the UK probably has
more farming subsidies than it otherwise would. But there seems
to be a concensus that big subsidies are on the way out, throughout
the EU.

Robin Faichney