While agricultural subsidies sound good on paper, they lead to negative and even harmful effects for low-income consumers and farmers alike.
When informed that the already starving French had run out of bread, Marie Antoinette famously responded: “Then let them eat cake!” In this (likely fictitious) exchange, the Queen effectively personified the separation of the state aristocracy from the plight of the common man.
Today, the state is equally as inept when it comes to feeding the poor.
Food, Glorious Food
While everybody purchases and consumes food products, irrespective of economic or social standing, each does so in a different way.
Every penny counts when half of your income goes on food.
Those of a lower income, for example, statistically spend around 4% more on food than their wealthier counterparts. This is fairly logical; a $100 food budget represents a greater amount to a person with $1,000 than to someone with $10,000, even though they are both consuming equally.
While richer families are able to spend the bulk of their income on luxury goods or on savings, every penny counts when half of your income goes on food. Thus, the poor are hit especially hard by increasing food costs. An increase in the cost of bread can be devastating when your budget is tight, even if it’s only by a small amount….. Read More