One might suggest that this is the plan, total ownership of every part of people’s lives to maximize profits, the “Company Store” as the model for the proles existence, every penny that goes out from the owners comes right back.
The current land holders are, I think, largely indifferent to the average American. The small holders are interested in supporting their families by selling what they produce.
The potential new land holders, on the other hand, view the average American as yet another resource to be mined and exploited. They are not indifferent, they are actively interested in extracting as much as possible from everyone and everything and they don’t care if that exploitation destroys and kills.
Current landowners, whether large or small, are interested in making as much money as possible from their land. I’m not sure a ‘potential new land holder’ would have any other interest. Profits are profits, whether it’s a smallish family farm or a large corporate-type farm.
I also don’t know how one would exploit the average American from a chunk of farmland. Care to explain?
That was my thought too. As a consumer of food, I don’t see a huge difference between a sole proprietorship and a limited liability corporation owning a farm.
The limited liability corporation will have very deep pockets, and the ability to fund and purchase politicians. These politicians will then be expected to pass policies favorable to corporations, and to potentially enable corporations to use slave labor from the new concentration camps.
More land/power/profits to corporations generally leads to very bad outcomes for actual people, as corporations have only obligations to increase profit, no matter how.
Sole proprietorship are run by human beings, often living in the community. They have moral and ethical codes (usually), and tend to support the local community and the human beings who work for them.
The LLC also has economies of scale. These farmers are not poor, it doesn’t cost them any more to rent a congressman.
Maybe - because a family business can be structured as an LLC and whether that family business is structured as an LLC or a sole proprietorship or partnership doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with deep pockets or ethics. The family that owns the Chinese restaurant I go to doesn’t have deeper pockets because it’s an LLC rather than a sole proprietorship or partnership. Same thing for the bakery across the street from it. Many small businesses are LLCs because that structure protects personal assets.
ADM is not poor. The farmers I know work full time jobs, in addition to farming, for the health insurance.
They also dumbly vote Republican every time.
I’ve met farmers for whom the farm is effectively a full-time job (or even more), but their spouses work a non-farm job, specifically for the health insurance coverage.
Well, perhaps my terminology is incorrect. I won’t use the term LLC.
I’d say the danger comes from huge mega corp agricultural businesses with multi million dollar war chests to buy politicians. Not from a family business structured as an LLC.
Large corporations currently own 5-6% of USA farmland, but relatively few are agricultural businesses. Most of these companies buy farmland for the relatively safe ROI.
I’m still having a hard time figuring out the average American can be exploited by this practice. Other than an increase in food prices, perhaps.
Many small farm holders means lots of competition when they go to sell their products. This helps keep prices from rising. In fact, it is so effective that most industrialized nations have to subsidize their farmers to keep them from going out of business.
If there is a monopoly or only a few players in the business then they can set prices high - because you have to eat. They’ll set those prices as high as the market will bear, which means the folks lower down the socio-economic ladder might not be able to afford to eat. Literally.
^ This.
^ This.
Last year there were 1.8 million farms in the US. A lot more than a few players.
And farmers have NEVER set their own prices…they are at the mercy of whatever the market is offering.
Right. Because there are 1.8 million different players on the field.
Reduce the producers to just 2 or 3 and it completely changes the math. If they collude to set prices it will be the rest of us who suffer because you have to eat.
That is not happening anytime soon. Probably never.
It could never happen!
Correct. Your chart shows the guys that control food prices. Not the farmers.
If only the US could figure out a way to subsidise the poor people’s grocery bills. Then the farmers could make more money, while the poor people could still afford to eat.
Alas, such a thing is clearly impossible. /s
Charlie Kirk was shot about a 1/2 hour ago. It is pretty horrific.
Yes, yes it is.
I do feel sympathy for another human being being injured due to gun violence in this country.
On the other hand, given Mr. Kirk’s views part of me says this is a matter of someone exercising their First Amendment right to free expression by exercising their Second Amendment rights.