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Mises Economics Blog

But we free and feed the world!

September 4, 2008 11:45 AM by Jeffrey Tucker | Other posts by Jeffrey Tucker | Comments (4)

The Palin speech seems to have unleashed a wave of belligerent nationalism and frenzy on the right. Andrew C. McCarthy at National Review posts that Palin allows us to be proud again that "we free and feed the world..."

So I just checked the latest US Department of Agriculture's "World Agricultural Production" flyer put out by the Foreign Agricultural Service. It turns out that the US is responsible for about 10% of world crop production, and this is exceeded by China and India -- which isn't exactly feeding the world.

But, on the other hand, surely their regulations on agricultural production were exported by the US. Also we do lead the world in reports on world agriculture production.

Comments (4)

  • theblob

  • The funny thing is that most of Humanity is hungry, sitting in dirt and living under a dictator, like it was all through history.

  • Published: September 4, 2008 12:50 PM

  • tjoseph

  • Given those numbers, I'm amazed we can feed ourselves. Oh, wait don't we consume more than we produce?
    I'm still waiting for the numbers on how many people the U.S. government has actually freed.

  • Published: September 4, 2008 2:16 PM

  • Dale

  • I think the question would better be framed as are we a net exporter or importer of food. I think that we are a net exporter and that most countries are net importers of food.

  • Published: September 5, 2008 2:43 PM

  • Joe S.

  • Funny how many Third World nations blame their problems on IMF debt and puppet dictators pushed on them by the US. If we're helping them, how come their life expectancy is plummeting and they want us to go away?

  • Published: September 6, 2008 9:15 AM

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