[bobman0330]

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I think history bears out the fact when food prices rapidly rise, there's a huge political price to pay. People are psychologically more motivated by prices of goods rather their than supply. It's not silly to see why political systems make the easier choices taking into account people's psychology.

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Most of the government subsidies to agriculture are actually intended to increase consumer prices, like price floors and import tariffs.

The argument that we need "food security" is almost complete nonsense. WTF do you think is going to happen if the government quits shoveling money at farmers? Do you think they're going to just pack up, pave over Iowa, and build the world's biggest strip mall? If the US ever does face a large-scale famine, it's going to be because of climate change or a nuclear war or a total breakdown in the fabric of society. And subsidies aren't going to do [censored] about that.