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"Torsten Brinch" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 28 Dec 2002 17:13:46 -0000, "Michael Saunby"
wrote:

the world would be economically
much stronger if the world's farmers only produced about 30% of the food
that is actually needed - i.e. enough to feed everyone in the west, and
no
more. The only problem that then remains is what to produce, where, and
how it gets distributed without some crazy Robin Hood type trying to
give
it to the poor.

There is no need to reduce farm production, if we just waste more
food. This will for obvious reasons inflate demand relative to supply.
just as good as reducing production.Now, this means less farm subsidy
will be needed, because the farmer is able to sell more of his
product. Farm subsidy comes from your taxes, so this means your taxes
will be less.

UK taxes exist for two purposes, but in many forms. They exist to fund
essential (and some not so essential) services and to redistribute wealth.
We have very many taxes, again for two purposes, one is to make the taxes
fairer - i.e. to punish (e.g. tobacco) those who do bad thing, and reward
those who do good things. Farm subsidy for the most part is provided by
income tax - i.e. it is a tax on the rich. The payments, in the past,
ensured basic food stuffs were available in great quantity at low prices -
i.e. the provided most benefit to the poor. Of course the payments went
via farmers, who took a cut, just as our doctors providing state health
care are also quite wealthy.

The farmers will attempt to produce more to satisfy the
artificially inflated demand. By increasing the production, the
farmers will get lower relative overhead per unit of production. The
lower production costs will reduce the cost of food. The lower food
prices will then allow the poor to afford more food with the same
money. Therefore, wasting food feeds the poor and lowers your taxes.


So who will waste food, and how much will we have to pay them to do this?
I can see a new tax might be needed.

Michael Saunby