It’s simple, part II

“For the past two years our farmers have struggled with historically low milk prices,” said Senator James Jeffords, an Independent from Vermont who often votes with the chamber’s Democrats. “The last thing we need right now is a flood of imported milk products that could drive prices even lower, perhaps permanently.

Imagine the horror, permanently low prices! And what is the political context?

Senators from dairy states like Vermont fear that a proposed US-Australian Free Trade Agreement could mean “undue hardships” for American milk producers…More than 30 senators signed a letter to President Bush last week that said the proposed trade agreement “would have dire consequences for several of America’s agricultural industries including the dairy industry…

By the way, current U.S. tariffs on Australian dairy products average about 100 percent. The above facts are from the Sunday Boston Globe, the article is not currently on-line.

Are you wondering what the title of this post means? Here is “It’s Simple” [part I], in case you missed it a few days ago.