will the free market end hunger? food first text extracted from world hunger 12 myths by lappe,...
TRANSCRIPT
Will the Free Market End Hunger?
Food First
Text extracted from
World Hunger 12 Myths
by Lappe, Collins, and Rosset, 1998
Free Market
• Free Market responds to money not people
• As poor get poorer and are pushed from land– they have even less impact
on markets
• Their needs for food do not register
• The market responds to the needs of the wealthy – to produce luxury goods
http://www.havingaballdresshire.co.uk/toolkit/luxury-dress-rental.jpg
The Market• Is blind to social and
environmental costs• Example: U.S. Ag export boom
– Loss of small farmers, rural communities
– Soil erosion– Aquifer depletion– Ground water contamination– Fossil Fuel waste, global
warming
http://www.klaassenrealty.com/images/auctions/auction_today_sign.jpg
Concentration of Wealth
• The Market leads to a concentration of economic power
• Those with greater economic power gobble up those with less
• Food flows from the hungry to the well fed
http://www.geocities.com/srivathsajoshi/burgerking01.jpg
Inequity
Reward for Hard Work?• Theory:
– Market rewards hard work
• Reality:– Market requires hard work and
production
– Market rewards those who have wealth
– Wealthy can withstand market swings
– Wealthy have better access to credit• better risk
– Wealthy can invest in more land to offset low grain prices
Donald Trump
http://tv.popcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/donald-trump.jpg
Distribution of Purchasing Power
• “The more widely dispersed purchasing power is,
• the more the market will respond to actual human preferences and needs
• and the more power the market will have to end hunger”– Food First
Mexico
http://z.about.com/d/studenttravel/1/7/X/E/zihua_secret_merc_green_bowl_03.jpg
Structural Adjustment Loans• Loans given in 1980s-90s
– International Monetary Fund (IMF)– World Bank
• Condition of loans = Structural Adjustment Rules – imposed on governments
• Goal: make developing countries – Efficient– competitive
• Involved– deregulation, – privatization of state institutions – removal of trade barriers
IMF loans
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Effect of Structural Adjustment
• Benefits of institutions and resources transferred from public to private business
• Gap between rich and poor widened as economic power concentrated
• Poverty and hunger escalated• Free market increased import
of luxury goods• Cheap imported grain drove
local farmers out of business
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41I1C0Lo5TL._SL500_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_.jpg
http://www.antiwarcommittee.org/images/clipart/economics/SAP.jpg
Costa Rica• After a decade of
Structural Adjustment:– Trade deficit rose 100%
– 76,800 cars entered country in 3 years
– 42,000 farmers growing corn, beans and rice staples went out of business
Costa Rica Market
http://images.goabroad.com/images/listingphotos/standard/Costa%20Rica%20-%20Fruit%20Stand.jpg
Need Government and Market
• Government and Market must work together to end hunger
• Market by itself will lead to concentration of wealth– and increased hunger
• Government by itself without market leads to – inefficiency, – lack of motivation– low production
• Example: Soviet Russia
http://www.flykending.dk/tema/museer/nasm/capitol1.JPG
Role for Government
• Government policies can help to spread the wealth and means of wealth – so that the market can serve
more people
• Government can help insure that people have the means to support themselves – and thus eat
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