all the news that print will fit.
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| notes from underground - societal whispers all the news that print will fit. |
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Sunday, May 16, 2004 np: the rain parade - "this can't be today" last post, i commented on the support of the tobacco buy out versus the quota system that has been in place since the 1930s. one question i had, as it's been awhile since anyone in my family actively grew tobacco (the 70s were when my grandfather stopped farming), is what exactly is the quota system? and how does a potential buy-out affect it? so, thanks to the internet, i did some research. the first place i stopped to look was phillips morris' buyout faq site. usually i would be loathe to trust tobacco companies in general, but phillip morris has employed a sizeable portion of my hometown for aeons it seems and both they and r.j. reynolds heavily support the buy out legislation. so while this link is a faq about why they hold the position they do, it does give some basic information. the quota system, originally established during the depression, gives farmers a guaranteed amount of land from which they can sell the tobacco that they grow. in other words, as opposed to production levels setting the amount of tobacco produced in a year, it is pure acreage that determines the amount that is allowed to be brought to market by the feds. now, while this worked in keeping the market competitive for farmers in the u.s. up to a point, the influx of foreign grown tobacco over the past decade or so has started to make it impossible for farmers to generate the income they once did. also, slowly, quotas have been gathered up by non-producing land holders which has forced farmers to lease the quotas at a price in order to produce. how will the buy out help? simple. the government will step in and buy out all the quotas from those who own them. the result? a truly open, competitive american tobacco market for the first time in close to 80 years. farmers will be allowed to grow any amount of tobacco they want as long as that type of tobacco was grown in their county as of 2003. this rise in production of american tobacco will make it more competitive and more readily available. (major tobacco growing states: kentucky, north carolina and tennessee. both of america's largest cigarette production companies are headquartered in north carolina. thus, local trumps foreign, we hope at least.) the buy out is one of the few truly bi-partisan supported issues in this election year. the main squabble between people (and what is quickly becoming a hot issue in the erskine bowles vs. richard burr senate contest here in north carolina) seems to be over whether, in addition to the buyout, the FDA should be able to regulate tobacco manufacturing for the first time. erskine bowles, john kerry and the majority of the democratic party support FDA oversight. (disclosure: so do i.) richard burr does not support the FDA part of the mcintyre-davis bill (the bill currently up before congress that would establish the buy out and FDA regulation). i, personally, think FDA regulation is important to establish the footing for this new system, not to mention to keep an eye on the tobacco industry in general. can you imagine if the FDA had been in on tobacco for the past 40 or so years? the FDA will not have oversight of the farms themselves (nor should they), but only at the point of manufacture. so, richard burr and erskine bowles can duke it out over the FDA half of this, but at least both of them support the buy out. however, not so the president. and as you can read in the article, all hell has broken loose in tobacco states as a result. i think my personal favorite quote comes from richard burr: Reflecting the sensitivity of the issue, Burr said Friday that "clearly the president is wrong" on the need for a buyout. wow. that may be the boldest thing a republican has said about any of the president's policies ever. plus, he's right. the president is way, way out of touch (as usual) with the rest of the country on this. bush's attempt to play himself off as a man of the people has been bullshit from the start, but this is just another perfect example of how the man really has no earthly idea what he's doing. he's a one-track president; namely, terror. and when he has to come back to earth occasionally to deal with domestic issues (even domestic terror issues), he is woefully underprepared and mistaken. capitalizing on the president's blatant misstep, john kerry immediately pounced, declaring his support of both a buy out and the FDA oversight. now the fun will be to watch how the president will change his position on this. he has to, afterall. otherwise, he will have many an angry republican in the south come november 2nd. and as much as the GOP election machine has been labeling kerry a flip-flopper on issues, this will turn out to be one of bush's most eggregious offenses in his long history of stating and then totally changing his opinion on issues. homeland defense, anyone? posted by J. Neas | 5/16/2004 12:13:00 PM
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