Finding Our Way Back To The Market
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
After reviewing a few of the news articles that have been written to try and detail the $3.8 TRILLION budget proposal that the Obama Administration released yesterday, my thinking is rushing in all different directions. Perhaps the most telling theme of the $3.8 TRILLION budget is that it is still headed in directions which aren’t good directions to be going in…and I’m not just talking about the deeper financial abyss than we’re already in.
It’s because of this expansion of government into the areas that our current leaders are taking us that U.S. agriculture needs to stop counting on the federal dollars which have become part of our profit and loss sheets and get into a mindset that our best hope must be found in the marketplace. As advanced by the American Farm Bureau Federation in their urging for attention to critical trade agreements the focus must be to pursue every opportunity out there for sales and revenues that can result from non-governmental avenues.
Those who rely on government for their support are going to find themselves wishing that they would not be in that boat. Strengthening self-reliance may not be the approach where the rest of society seems to believe it should go, but agricultural producers and other business ventures who are intending on long-term sustainability need to expand their capabilities to operate within the market system.
Perhaps most frightening of all when you look over the “highlights” of the $3.8 TRILLION budget proposal is the realization that it is only a proposal. Congress takes it from here and experience has taught that those who run things in that body are not going to make that proposal smaller.
There isn’t going to be an easy way out of this mess – so finding a way to stop depending on those who can’t be relied on is a critical step for all of us to take.
After reviewing a few of the news articles that have been written to try and detail the $3.8 TRILLION budget proposal that the Obama Administration released yesterday, my thinking is rushing in all different directions. Perhaps the most telling theme of the $3.8 TRILLION budget is that it is still headed in directions which aren’t good directions to be going in…and I’m not just talking about the deeper financial abyss than we’re already in.
It’s because of this expansion of government into the areas that our current leaders are taking us that U.S. agriculture needs to stop counting on the federal dollars which have become part of our profit and loss sheets and get into a mindset that our best hope must be found in the marketplace. As advanced by the American Farm Bureau Federation in their urging for attention to critical trade agreements the focus must be to pursue every opportunity out there for sales and revenues that can result from non-governmental avenues.
Those who rely on government for their support are going to find themselves wishing that they would not be in that boat. Strengthening self-reliance may not be the approach where the rest of society seems to believe it should go, but agricultural producers and other business ventures who are intending on long-term sustainability need to expand their capabilities to operate within the market system.
Perhaps most frightening of all when you look over the “highlights” of the $3.8 TRILLION budget proposal is the realization that it is only a proposal. Congress takes it from here and experience has taught that those who run things in that body are not going to make that proposal smaller.
There isn’t going to be an easy way out of this mess – so finding a way to stop depending on those who can’t be relied on is a critical step for all of us to take.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 2/2/2010 6:18 AM 
Categories: Agriculture
Tags: Government Programs Federal Budget Federal Spending
Categories: Agriculture
Tags: Government Programs Federal Budget Federal Spending
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