ironglow, I will make this final comment and then let the topic alone, as I will have nothing to further add. How can one be for CAPITALISM in one area, and not another. Farming like all other BUSINESSES, "should be competitive". If a guy is not as good a farmer as his neighbor, then perhaps he needs to do something he's good at.
As for you "hypothesis" that IF A CERTAIN FARMER FAILS, it will drive up the markets elsewhere, then so be it until the "markets re-adjust" and everyone settles where they belong. When I was in the trucking industry as an "owner operator" it was PASS OR FAIL! No one subsidized me, and if you want to "hypothesize" about economic catastrophe, think about the trucking industry failing. Then, the farmer wouldn't have the seed, the tractors, the fuel, the planters, the harvest machinery, and on, and on.
In trucking you either make it, or you don't. The government doesn't subsidize you, they regulate and tax you.
IF AN OWNER OPERATOR FAILS, OR A TRUCKING COMPANY FAILS, ANOTHER SIMPLY MOVES INTO THEIR PLACE, WITH BETTER BUSINESS PRACTICES. SO SHOULD IT BE IN FARMING, RANCHING, ECT.
This attitude of this one needs to be left alone and subsidized, while this one needs to be regulated, taxed is hogwash, and exactly why the country is in the shape it's in.
To claim to be for capitalism, and in favor of free marketing, without government interference, and yet SUPPORT SUCH THINGS AS FARM SUBSIDY, is hypocrisy, and disingenuous in claiming conservatism.
It is socialism for profit. YOUR FARMER FRIEND IS LIVING BEYOND HIS MEANS, AND YOU ARE SHARING HIS COOLAIDE TO SUPPORT SUCH A THING. HE (THE FARMER) IS NO BETTER THAN THE REST OF US, AND NO MORE DESERVES FREE GOVERNMENT MONEY, (i.e. TAX DOLLARS), THAN YOU OR I. IT'S GOVERNMENT WELFARE "JUSTIFIED", BY SCARING THE CONSUMER (YOU!) JUST LIKE GM, AND CHRYSLER, AND FANNY MAE, AND FREDDY MAC, AND ON AND ON. YOU ARE SIMPLY TRYING TO PUT A "DIFFERENT FACE ON THE SAME CLOWN".YOU DISLIKE CHARLIE RANGEL, BUT "AGREE WITH FARM SUBSIDIES". POOR OLE CHARLIE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY HIS TAXES, AND THE FARMER SHOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY TAXES ON FUEL. OH! I FORGOT! FARMERS "DON'T PAY TAXES ON FUEL" DO THEY.