U.S. agriculture subsidies are again threatening American leadership on free trade. The Financial Times reports: Brazil is preparing to take action against the US over what it says are illegal subsidies and other trade barriers following the collapse of the Doha round of talks at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva last week. … In June the WTO upheld a complaint by Brazil that Washington had not done enough to remove illegal subsidies to its cotton farmers, opening the way for Brazil to request WTO authorization for more than $1 …
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who once threatened to resign if Congress stripped funding for the infamous Bridge to Nowhere, was indicted yesterday on seven felony counts for failing to disclose gifts from an Alaskan firm. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic in Geneva, international talks aimed at ushering in a new era of free trade collapsed over World Trade Organization member nations’ unwillingness to end farm subsidies. These events are not unrelated. They are examples of how big government inherently breeds powerful special interests that leverage government power to create policies for …
