Farm Aid and a Great Depression

Sallie James of Cato writes about more legislation proposed by Congress that will keep America's farm subsidies going. This is a slap in the face to the multilateral Doha Round. If we are going to use unilateral measures, we should at least do so by increasing free trade (ie. FTAs) and not by increasing government hand-outs in the name of "leveling the playing field."

Her last paragraph sums up the absurdity of this legislation...

The proposed legislation will keep the current farm bill in place for "at
least" one crop year after the congressional approval of any Doha outcome. Given
that the "emergency" aid given to farmers as part of the New Deal in the 1930s
is still with us, largely intact, more than 70 years later, there is little
reason to hope that the opportunity to reform U.S. agricultural policy will be
seized any more forcefully a year after negotiations are over than now, when
there is so much to be gained from stepping up to the plate.