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Showing posts with the label Economic bill of rights

FDR's Economic Bill of Rights

I was listening to a lecture on Roosevelt's program on my ride home today. This item from his economic bill of rights struck me as really bizarre: "The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;" Essentially, this simply removes farmers from the realm of competitive enterprise: no farmer may ever make a loss. (I guess they become like large investment banks today.) And without restricting entry (which Roosevelt may have planned to do), the amount of farmer's can just keep piling up way beyond what is needed, and they are guaranteed to keep making money. Had anyone in the administration thought this through?