Family Farm Fun

How Politicians Do Math

Of course it’s simplistic, I didn’t even factor in the corruption. The important point is that politicians and the agribusiness lobby don’t expect you to add up the true costs of industrial agriculture. Just as they’ve drained the aquifers and deprived future generations of water, industrial farming has run up huge debts that they don’t intend to pay. And their political cronies have tricked us into co-signing the loan, so we’re stuck making all the payments. [You’ve probably seen that in those court shows, and wondered how stupid those people were.] If these agribusinesses are such an economic asset, why can’t they pay off their own debts, and clean up their own messes? The rural poor have to, why shouldn’t the rural rich?