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Food Prices

Looming Crises and Drastic Measures

"There will be much discussion coming up to the election of the rising cost of food," Notes Libertarianz commodity spokesman Peter Cresswell. "So let's get some things out of the way now,"

"1) The word 'crisis' will be used, probably in conjunction with the adjective 'looming', undoubtedly some 'drastic' 'measures' will be proposed, this is a scare tactic, ignore it. There may be potentially a 'problem', so let's look for 'solutions'. Less dramatic, but much more sensible."

"2) Demand is the problem, supply is the solution. To approach this any other way is to deny reality."

"3) The environmentalists will be the biggest hindrance to any solutions with their Luddite-like aversion to potentially life saving technology such as genetic modification, just as they were opposed to genetic cross breeding."

"4) Limiting food exports (to keep food in a country) is not a supply solution. Limiting exports limits production. Limiting production limits the supply of food. This is very simple."

"5) In keeping with point 4, the freer the trade between countries, the easier food can be moved around the world. This is part of the supply solution."

"6) Subsidies might fractionally increase supply. However this is not guaranteed, they can in fact decrease production as efficiency is no longer an incentive. Subsidies are also not in keeping with free trade principles."

"7) You may not like it, but food is produced by ordinary people who need to make money. Not by philanthropists who want to feed the world. It is produced by them, it does not come from a finite communal world food depot. So when you hear that x percent of the world's population consume a disproportionately large percentage of the "world's" food supply, bear in mind that the food supply is not a static, limited, resource being pillaged. It is not being taken from the mouths of others. It is dynamic, and is produced on demand for those who can pay. If a certain percent of the world's population did not demand the food produced, it wouldn't suddenly be freed up for distribution, it simply would not be produced."

"The major parties will employ guilt and fear as popular tactics employed in conjunction with this problem. Ignore it. They don't understand the problem, and their solutions will be designed to net votes, not to actually solve anything. Libertarianz understands the problem, and we know the solution. New Zealand (and the world) needs more freedom and less government."

"It's enough to make you vote Libertarianz!"

ENDS

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