I heard someone raving about Intelligentsia coffee the other day. I
bought some and tried it out this morning. Sure enough, it could've
been Folgers crystals for all I know.
What really happened: I was fooled into buying a Fair Trade coffee product by someone who I've now identified as a heat-seeking liberal.
To alleviate my disappointment, I set out to expose the Fair Trade program for what it really is: a purveyor of the finest Columbian bologna a do-gooder could ever get his/her coffee cup around.
Fair Trade coffee buyers must pay at least $1.26 per pound for the coffee, while the world price hovers near $.50 per pound.
According to Global Exchange, "Many small coffee farmers receive prices for their coffee that are less than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt."
Well, the real cause for the farmers' cycle of poverty and debt is their willingness to continue operating as coffee farmers when the cost to produce their coffee is more than what is brought in by selling it.
The market is flooded with coffee. Hence, the 50 cent price. Keeping these farmers afloat prevents them from finding other ways of work which are actually profitable. If coffee production slowed, supply would decrease, prices would increase, and then the coffee farmers of the world could enjoy a better life.
Fair Traders are simply engaging in an "adopt-a-farmer" system that has no chance of sustainment. What will happen to these farmers in 10 years when the do-gooders lose interest in their plight, deciding instead to put their efforts behind keeping Fruitflowers in business.
This is nothing more than a short-term bail-out, with long-term devastation dissolved in every cup.
What really happened: I was fooled into buying a Fair Trade coffee product by someone who I've now identified as a heat-seeking liberal.
To alleviate my disappointment, I set out to expose the Fair Trade program for what it really is: a purveyor of the finest Columbian bologna a do-gooder could ever get his/her coffee cup around.
Fair Trade coffee buyers must pay at least $1.26 per pound for the coffee, while the world price hovers near $.50 per pound.
According to Global Exchange, "Many small coffee farmers receive prices for their coffee that are less than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt."
Well, the real cause for the farmers' cycle of poverty and debt is their willingness to continue operating as coffee farmers when the cost to produce their coffee is more than what is brought in by selling it.
The market is flooded with coffee. Hence, the 50 cent price. Keeping these farmers afloat prevents them from finding other ways of work which are actually profitable. If coffee production slowed, supply would decrease, prices would increase, and then the coffee farmers of the world could enjoy a better life.
Fair Traders are simply engaging in an "adopt-a-farmer" system that has no chance of sustainment. What will happen to these farmers in 10 years when the do-gooders lose interest in their plight, deciding instead to put their efforts behind keeping Fruitflowers in business.
This is nothing more than a short-term bail-out, with long-term devastation dissolved in every cup.
I suspect it's all just politics as usual. Keeping the coffee farmers employed in coffee production stops them from switching to Columbia's other - and more profitable - agricultural export product.
Good point. Governments using their minions, the lefty do-gooders, to do their work.
What most fair trade advocates in the U.S. don't realize is that because fair trade certification brings above-market returns, farmers will invest resources lobbying to get fair trade certified. Some, maybe most of the additional 76 cents per pound is dissipated - passed on to politicians and bureaucrats in one form or another.
Did it make you _angry_, Liz?
http://www.esnips.com/doc/bd2c8cf2-be66-4868-81cf-1e3dfdbcbf46/Chris%20Farley%20-%20Columbian%20Coffee%20Crystals
LOL
-Jake
Funny you mention it. My brain permanently associates that skit with Folgers crystals. Hilarious. One of the best ever.