Trade Not Aid

Scarecrow on a wooden cross
Blackbird in the barn
Four hundred empty acres
That used to be my farm
--John Cougar Mellencamp

Yesterday, President Trump announced a $12 billion aid package to farmers who are being hurt by the tariffs that the president himself imposed. Many are noting (ex, ex, ex) the foolishness of trying to fix problems caused by one market intervention with another market intervention.

This administration is not the first to pour bureaucratic gasoline on fires that it or previous administrations created. Many modern welfare programs are designed to 'help' those whose positions worsened after previous government 'help.' Unemployment benefits for those pushed to the sidelines by minimum wage laws is but one example.

During the New Deal countless programs were implemented to quell effects of previous bad policies such as the Smoot Hawley tariffs.

As one soybean farmer told us on @FoxBusiness “We want trade not aid.”

— Dagen McDowell (@dagenmcdowell) July 25, 2018

Dagen McDowell's quote above captures the essence: the proper policy is trade, not aid.