When Are Capitalism and Free Enterprise, Not?

Answer: when the Government supports it.

NEW YORK - Farmers in rich countries get $1 billion per day in subsidies. To be fair, we've rounded up the numbers, counted agribusinesses and small farmers, and defined subsidies broadly to include tariffs, export credits and other supports. But, give a million or two a day, the order of magnitude is right.

By that measure, agriculture is the most protected industry. And that is the single biggest reason that the current round of world trade talks under the World Trade Organization (WTO) is stalled. Not surprisingly, farmers don't want to give up that sort of money.

Farmers and agribusinesses such as Archer Daniels Midland, ConAgra Foods, General Mills and the privately owned Cargill, which in the U.S. get 80% of farm subsidies, have tremendous political clout--as do their counterparts in Europe and Japan--way beyond their numbers or economic size...

Cheneyburton is another great example.

There is nothing like Free Enterprise, and what these people do is nothing like free enterprise.