An Obscenity of Reasoning

"Those who want to destroy the common agricultural policy don't believe in Europe. There is no reason to leave the field open for our American friends, U.S. farmers," said Sarkozy.

Lou Minatti points out a flaw in buried deep in the foolish rationale of behind which European subsidies in general and French subsidies in particular. That is, that the US as the standard big bad wolf of all things rationalized to be digestible and acceptable to the European listener:

"They don't do it for us, why should we do it for them?"
Population of France: 64.5 million.
Agricultural subsidies: $58.5 billion/year
French annual agricultural subsidy per capita: $906.98

Population of the US: 301 million
Agricultural subsidies: $7-8 billion/year
US annual agricultural subsidy per capita: $26.58

The weenie being hidden here being not just a severe manipulation of the way farm business is treated, but to the tune of $2.47 per person per day, shows it to be a de-facto nationalized economic sector. Underlying this crop cult is that it’s also the third (if not the sixth or seventh) third rail of political discussion in France, and in the perfunctory statements on the subject get their perfunctory straw man of America attached to it as if it was strategic, as if it was 1958, and as if they were Soviets. They feel completely at ease making an equivalency comparison when their intervention is 34 times greater than that of the US.