Budget Deficits Could Sink Ag Programs
Europe, U.S. ag policies 'disconnected' to budget deficit realities, says leading European politician
Mike Wilson
Published: Oct 30, 2009
Former Irish Prime Minister John Bruton, speaking before the Transatlantic Council conference on the future of international Ag policy, warned that growing budget deficits will likely cause future ag programs to be slashed dramatically.
"To listen to discussion of the farm bill and to see what happened to Freedom-to-Farm when it was erased by a more generous scheme, you'd think that the finances of the U.S. and the Ag policy of the U.S. were being formed on two different planets," says Bruton. "In the EU (European Union), to discuss ag policy with farmers you'd form a similar view - they're disconnected."
The forum, held at Washington D.C.'s National Press Club, examined whether agricultural policy affects current global economic relations, what the top priorities in this sector are and how transatlantic dialogue can inform world agricultural policies.
"The reality of the matter is, if we continue with current patterns of spending on both sides of the Atlantic – such as entitlements like Medicare, and the Bush tax cuts getting an extension - by 2060 U.S. budget deficits will reach 450% of GDP, primarily because of aging," Bruton says. "More people will be claiming Medicare with fewer people of working age, and more people will be receiving or requiring nursing care."
Bruton says the same phenomenon has been identified in Europe. "There are differences, but broadly speaking by 2030 if today's trend continues in the 27 European Union countries, by 2060 the EU debt-to-GDP ratio will be over 500%, even worse than the U.S.," he says.
Bruton is head of the delegation of the European Commission to the USA. Ending his term as EU ambassador in Washington, he has made public his interest in becoming the first President of the European Council, a role that would ostensibly make him the second most powerful politician on the planet.
First elected to Irish parliament at age 22, as prime minister in the mid-90s Bruton headed one of the most rapid growth periods in the Irish economy. He also served as a leading member of the convention that drafted the EU constitution.
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