So the underlying message of the title, at least is “pfft. Stupid americans and their protein.” While europe offshores meat production to 3rd world countries.
I wish it were true. Unfortunately, it is not the case. In the interest of “food security” and “self reliance” the EU is spending slightly over 1/3 of its total budget on agricultural subsidies. Subsidized fuel, subsidized farm equipment, guaranteed minimum beef/milk purchase prices, minimum pork prices (the Danish are weirdly obsessed with pork for example) and even direct cash transfers to farmers because why the fuck not at this point.
All that so that the EU can say that they’re a net exporter of agricultural products.
Of course, this tiny coterie of European farmers are super grateful for all that welfa… I mean “subsidies” so whenever someone dares to even mention the actual costs of these subsidies, or worse, questions direct cash transfers they throw a tantrum and block roads/borders all over the EU.
And they always have to drive their (mostly government bought) tractors to the protests and berate the “degenerate liberals” who’re actually funding them with their tax money.
French president Macron: “Listen guys, maybe…these 10 billion/year of free money…maybe we should talk about a possible reduction…?”
French farmers: “Sacre bleu! How dare you! Block the roads NOW!”
American media: “ThE PeOpLe have had enough and are revolting!”
No, the people getting 10 billion a year (France only) are revolting. And they always get their way, resulting in ever increasing subsidies and putative “damages” for who knows what.
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There are worse things a government can spend its citizens’ money on.
Oh. Ok. I thought their nitrogen limits and anti-proteins production stuff was a very americanesque effort to push production off shore to appease the lefties and satisfy the need for regulatory fees and conditions.
. I guess I missed the mark.
Or maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle?
But it does look a lot like pricing and regulating an industry out of business.
How can you price an industry out of business if you’re subsidizing them literally every aspect of their production cycle as well as guaranteeing minimum prices for everything they produce that are higher that international market prices? And the subsidies keep growing… They’re getting 56 billion a year (EU totals) and they want more…communism. For themselves, of course. And getting away with pesky “technical standards” and foreign competition. And their demands are constantly being met while their (financial and political) appetites are growing.
10 billion (French cash subsidies) for 700k French farmers (1% of the French population) gets you 14k free money per farmer on average. Every year.
Sorry, I’m tangentially involved in some technical farming stuff and the self-entitlement of EU farmers is getting on my nerves on a weekly basis.
Makes austerity measures seem like a no brainer, right?
Like, fuck those farmers. We can get it cheaper from [insert 3rd world country here].
The only thing keeping them from the unemployment line is public sentiment, and that can turn on a dime. Especially when politicians start throwing big numbers at the masses that are afraid of big numbers.
It’s not that I don’t empathise with your plight, I’m just looking at it as a strategem and pointing at the moving parts as I see them.
Oh man, if two of these guys would switch schools, that team could dominate. What a win for women’s sports. 
“…the series of games took place between Seneca College, which had two transgender players on its team, and Centennial College, which had three. The trans players, ‘dominated’ the game, especially when it came to ‘serving and spiking.’ ‘Real biological women have needed medical assistance thanks to taking spikes off their head,’ he said.”
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They celebrate diversity. Bigtime.
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My daughter is a very accomplished handball player. Considering that it’s a pretty rough contact sport, if she were to face a gentleman like that on the court… Well, lets say then there would be a viral video with a title “HORRIFIC! A spectator rushes in and starts a fistfight with a female trans handball player”
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10 billion seems like a very small subsidy or I’m just numb to the USA government spending idiocy lol.
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Of all government spending to complain about, complaining about relatively minor agricultural subsidies may be the most stupid.
Food is, after all, the most strategic of strategic resources. It’s no coincidence that European farmers are facing criticism from the same neo-Marxist political forces that seek to weaken Western Civilization with every policy they support.
It’s the same “Trust The Science” crowd that insisted you needed an experimental medical treatment that didn’t actually work to participate in society and insists that they can control the weather 100 years from now by implementing their impoverishing environmental policies.
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Sounds like they should have trained harder.
Or stayed in the kitchen.
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Food security is fine and no one in their right mind is advocating for outsourcing food production to third countries, but the problem is with “communism and welfare for me, but not for thee”, much like with the American right.
When it comes to a significant part of European farmers (again, 1% population on average in each country) their repeated tantrums at mere suggestions to track where massive cash subsidies actually are going and why with such a plethora of subsidies their products are much expensive than in neighboring countries (is the mythical “red tape” supposed to explain a triple hike in costs?) I thought conservatism should be about fiscal responsibility and pulling oneself about bootstraps?
Again, taking the cue from their American cousins, they claim to represent “real people” (again, 1% of population getting 1/3rd of EU budget funds) and require ideological/political policy changes based on their supposed “realness” and of course, more free money (Venezuela is a communist shithole, but it’s apparently a shining example for farming subsidies).
Much like the Bolsheviks of old, they claim to represent “true majority” while despising the actual majority that’s financing them with their taxes.
You’re vaxxed IIRC Why didn’t you refuse the “experimental medical treatment” and become a freedom martyr?
1/3 of the EU budget is peanuts, especially when the defense of Europe is paid for by Americans, and has been for decades. You guys can’t even contain a second rate, corrupt and dysfunctional Russian military without massive American aid that far exceeds 1/3 of the meager EU budget.
You complain about the inefficiency of agricultural subsidies on one hand while holding out your other hand to beg Americans to send our money to one of the most corrupt governments in Europe. You do this while being openly contemptuous of Americans, especially American conservatives.
I got vaccinated to appease neurotic family members who held views just like yours in 2021. I had to choose between getting the shot or having contact with my only nearby nieces.
Had I not, I would still have had to choose between the jab or my job due to the Biden administration’s federal contractor mandate.
If my health was the only factor I wouldn’t have gotten it. It takes neurotic people like you, who insist on experimental medical treatments to participate in normal life, to pressure people like me into getting a shot I didn’t feel was necessary.
I was then, as I am now, 100 percent against a vaccine mandate. It was then, as it is now, a particularly stupid policy.
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Thanks to America hatings MAGAs, Europe’s contribution to Ukraine now exceeds that of the US.
Sending weapons (not money) to Ukraine is in America’s interest and therefore against MAGA interest. While I appreciate your fake emotional talking points, there are US servicemen on the ground in Ukraine right now tracking where every piece of hardware went and they haven’t found anything missing.
Oh no, I love America. Shining city on the hill, beacon of freedom and all that. I hate Americans who hate America, namely MAGAs. Bitter, angry people who yearn for the destruction of the political system of the most powerful country in the world in order to make up for their personal or societal failures. And that in their media-fueled hatred of America they’re willing to ally themselves with a who-is-who of world’s evil dictatorships to bring the country down.
There’s no vision for the future, neither economic nor political. Only never ending bitterness and hatred. Maybe the kids stopped calling, maybe there isn’t a single match on Bumble as all the women went woke. Anyway, the deliverance is less than one year away when the liberals will finally get what’s coming to them. Or that’s how the revenge fantasy goes anyway.
Preach, brother, preach.
The hypocrisy compounded by the arrogant all-knowing attitude is priceless indeed.
I got vaxxed,once, so I could show the card to eat in restaurants with friends. But I was not sheeple enough to get “scienced” into the endless boosters, plus new and improved vaccines, etc, etc. And certainly not pussily (is that a word?), frenzily (is that a word?), frightened into quarantining my groceries for 3 days before use…
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Yes.
I did not. So, I presume I’m responsible for approximately 37 billion trillion deaths. Sorry, guys. I also only put a mask on a couple of handfuls of times, and only because I didn’t feel like making a scene or arguing. Never, at any point, did I believe COVID was anything but the cold/flu being used for political nonsense. Anyone who bought that BS need not comment on a political issue ever again, because he has demonstrated a complete inability to understand politics.
I understand I replied to you, but my response obviously doesn’t apply to you.
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Hmmm, which “expert” on all matters political might that comment refer to???
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