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All Thumbs Book Reviews





               per year. About 80 percent of these subsidies go to the largest 20  cause they didn’t ever plant anything, their costs
               percent of farm businesses and 65 percent to the largest 10 percent.  on that field are low—usually much lower than
               Additionally, the larger the farm, the more crop insurance subsidies  the 60 percent payout. The authors also advocate
               it receives per acre. The largest farms receive almost thirty dollars  capping per-farm premium subsidies at a reason-
               per acre, while those in the fiftieth percentile in terms of crop sales  able level, say, forty thousand dollars per farm.
               receive just over ten dollars per acre.                        Crony capitalism—not true capitalism—is
            •   The USDA spends about eighty million dollars a year administrating  what happens when special interests influence
               the crop insurance program and educating farmers on how to use the  government policy for their own gain. Some
               overly complex system.                                     refer to this as “corporatism,” but this term can
            •   Private insurance companies are, unsurprisingly, huge advocates of  be unhelpful because it insinuates that corpo-
               continuing the program. They have made money every year except  rations (particularly large ones) are somehow
               two since 1980. In bad years, the government bears most of the losses;  inherently evil. In and of themselves, corpora-
               in good years, the private companies receive most of the gains.  tions are not bad. They’re actually incredibly
                                                                          important and beneficial to society as a whole
               The bottom line is that crop insurance wastes money and benefits  and are only bad when they ask for and receive
            the relatively well-off. It’s bad policy.                     special favors from government. Such private-
               APD suggests getting rid of federal subsidies for crop insurance  public partnerships are what distorts markets
            completely, but this is politically unlikely. The farm bill is popular on both  toward the already powerful.
            sides of the aisle because it combines farm subsidies with food programs   In truth, the large corporations that run
            for the poor—axing something on one end would require a cut on the  American agriculture hate competition as much
            other. The authors therefore recommend at least reducing subsidies to  as the most ardent socialist. Their partnership
            pre-2000 levels, when taxpayers paid a mere 40 percent of the premiums,  with government is what keeps them in power.
            a move that would save several billion dollars annually. They also ad-  They are devoted supporters of regulations,
            vise removing the “prevent plant” option, which is ripe for fraud. Under  because regulation makes it harder for smaller
            this option, farmers buy subsidized prevent-plant insurance, and if bad  businesses and individuals to compete with
            weather prevents them from planting before a government-established  them. They love rules that pile up barriers
            date, they can receive about 60 percent of what they’re covered for. Be-  to entry in their own industry. Both sides of


                                              BOOK REVIEWS IN Wise Traditions
                 The Weston A. Price Foundation receives two or three books per week, all of course seeking a Thumbs Up review.
             What are the criteria we use for choosing a book to review, and for giving a Thumbs Up?
             •  First and foremost, we are looking for books that add to the WAPF message. Dietary advice should incorporate the
                 WAPF guidelines while adding new insights, new discoveries and/or new therapies.
             •  We are especially interested in books on the fat-soluble vitamins, traditional food preparation methods and healing
                 protocols based on the WAPF dietary principles.
             •  We look for consistency. If you talk about toxins in vaccines in one part of your book but say you are not against
                 vaccines in another part of your book, or praise fat in your text but include recipes featuring lean meat, we are
                 unlikely to review it.
             •  We do not like to give Thumbs Down reviews. If we do not agree with the major tenets expounded in a book sent
                 to us, we will just not review it. However, we feel that we have an obligation to point out the problems in influential
                 or bestselling books that peddle misinformation, and for these we will give a negative review. We also will give a
                 negative review to any book that misrepresents the findings of Weston A. Price.
             •  If you want us to review your book, please do not send it as an email attachment. Have the courtesy to send us a
                 hard copy book or a printout of your ebook or manuscript in a notebook or coil binding.

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