Cheating Cheaters of Cheatery: The Amazing Story of Brazil's Cotton War with the U.S.
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Pizza Shirt: http://dftba.com/pizza Planet Money: http://dft.ba/-b6g In which John Green discusses the insane story of how the United States of America ended up subsidizing the cotton industry in Brazil so that America could continue its own illegal subsidies of its cotton farmers. This year and every year until we end our illegal cotton subsidies, the U.S. federal government will pay $147 million of American tax dollars to Brazilian cotton farmers to make up for our illegal subsidies, which amount to more than $3 billion most years. There's no question that American cotton subsidies create jobs, but there's ample evidence that the same $3 billion could be used to create MORE jobs, either through more efficient direct government stimulus or through just not spending that $3 billion and allowing private industry to create jobs with that 3 billion in capital. This is (one of the reasons) why economists generally hate industry-specific subsidies. HERE ARE A LOT OF LINKS TO NERDFIGHTASTIC THINGS: Shirts and Stuff: http://dftba.com/artist/30/Vlogbrothers Hank's Music: http://dftba.com/artist/15/Hank-Green John's Books: http://amzn.to/j3LYqo ====================== Hank's Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hankgreen Hank's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hankimon Hank's tumblr: http://edwardspoonhands.tumblr.com John's Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/realjohngreen John's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/johngreenfans John's tumblr: http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com ====================== Other Channels Crash Course: http://www.youtube.com/crashcourse SciShow: http://www.youtube.com/scishow Gaming: http://www.youtube.com/hankgames VidCon: http://www.youtube.com/vidcon Hank's Channel: http://www.youtube.com/hankschannel Truth or Fail: http://www.youtube.com/truthorfail ====================== Nerdfighteria http://effyeahnerdfighters.com/ http://effyeahnerdfighters.com/nftumblrs http://reddit.com/r/nerdfighters http://nerdfighteria.info/ A Bunny (\(\ ( - -) ((') (')
Comments
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You don't wanna send Brazil 147 mil but taking an absurd ammount from it should be fine, right...
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lol i thought this was a wierd joke wtf
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JOHN!!! YOU'RE NOT WEARING YOUR SEATBELT!!!
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if we were going to be fair we wouldn't subsidize anything
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To be fair, even with the subsidies, I can't afford clothes. Or rent. With a full time job.
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5 and half years later we know that Brazil a was lying about their economic growth and is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
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easy ways to reduce deficit:
-eliminate the penny
-stop subsidizing cotton
-stop subsidizing other things
-reduce prison population
-relax war on drugs
-end f-15 development
-reduce # of foreign bases
These suggestions wouldn't solve the current crisis, but they are a start. -
seatbelt, dude
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147 milhões de dólares que vão para a corrupção no meu pais .
Ou você acha que vai virar subsidio de verdade? -
But 18$ is really expensive. Prohibitively expensive. I would never spend 18$ on a shirt unless it's required for a job.
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How many people actually work in US cotton industry?
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...on condition this money is not invested into research, which would eventually lead to more efficient and cheaper cotton production in Br.
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That 3.1 billion divided by the 207 million adults in the US ends up being about $15 per American adult. 3.1 billion sounds like a big number, but the US is a big country.
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lol thanks taxpayers
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Literally 20 minutes ago I watched a Spooks episode where the US was trying to sabotage negotiations of a trade agreement to end US cotton subsidies in Africa, because those subsidies meant that African cotton farmers couldn't sell their cotton at a fair price, and thus couldn't feed or provide health care for their families.
That's not all that happened in that episode, of course. Spoiler alert! There was much more subterfuge and an assassination attempt on an African president by one of his own citizens.
But it''s one of those examples of popular media using parallels to current events too make you think about what is a very serious issue in real life. -
3 billion dollars a year for almost compete domination of the global cotton industry sound like money well spent to me.
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You say the benefit we get is just slightly cheaper t shirts then claim at the end in the shill that the taxpayers have paid for a "significant portion" of the shirt? Feels like talking out of both sides John. Other than that love your guys' videos
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Race to the Bottom: American Cotton Subsidies are driving down the incomes of Farmers in Africa and Asia, thus increasing poverty.
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I'm sure all the "small government" types are saying the solution is to stop all subsidies to cotton farmers, American and Brazilian. And corn farmers. And wheat farmers. And ... They're not? How odd.
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