There, they finally said it

By Steve Poftak
July 8th, 2008

Tuesday’s Globe has an op-ed by two Democratic party heavyweights on the topic of the world food crisis — Madeleine Albright and John Podesta (the presumptive choice to be head of Obama’s transition team, if rumors are true).

But it takes them 500 words to touch one of the third rail of Democratic party politics, and then only gingerly. Here it is:

Agriculture continues to experience more trade distortions than any sector in the global economy. For its part, the developed world - particularly the United States, the European Union, and Japan - must confront the global impact of our subsidies and tariffs on agricultural products. Barriers to trade between developing countries must also be reduced. The United States should redouble its diplomatic efforts with key food producing countries to discourage government and private sector export restrictions that encourage hoarding.

Our agricultural policies suppress production of food across the globe and I appreciate their willingness to mention it, but I think it deserves more specificity and a higher priority on their agenda.