> What happened to the FDA's mission to protect the consumer?
The formal name is "Regulatory Capture" [1] but the common name is
simply corruption.
The interesting thing the article fails to mention is most of the
countries which the US imports rice from actually ban rice imports
from the US. The US, specifically California central valley, had and
mostly still has a huge rice industry, but since so many countries
ban our imports farming rice not as profitable as it could be.
The countries which ban rice imports from the US are typically trying
to protect their own rice farmers.
NOTE: I'm using the term "ban" in loose manner, since in some
case they just make importing rice from the US painfully difficult
and expensive though endless and unfair regulation.
>The countries which ban rice imports from the US are typically trying to protect their own rice farmers.
Japan's extremely inefficient agriculture sector (a model of corruption and government handouts, actually) is probably one of the most prominent offenders. (Their rice protectionism is both inefficient and corrupt)
Think how it must feel to be Thailand, who is the largest rice exporter in the world? The US comes in at number 4 after China and Vietnam and just before India.
I'm unfamiliar with rice imports/exports/production in Thailand, so your
question makes a loud "woooshing" noise over my head --I'm obviously
missing something.
The only reason why I know about the California rice situation is due to
living in the area for a while and making friends with some of the farmers.
BTW, on a totally different note, I've downloaded your "usable live
programming" stuff from LtU (thanks!) but I still need to read/watch it.
Import quotas hurt Thailand the most since they export the most. Its a shame too, because they produce the best rice.
If you are a big rice consumer, you should really at least try Thai rice; it is higher quality than the Chinese/Japanese variety, the grain is a bit longer and so it cooks a bit drier (think fluffier). The second best rice on the market is from Taiwan, but they aren't a big producer.
Hope you enjoy the paper. I wrote it to make just one point; should hopefully be an easy read.
The formal name is "Regulatory Capture" [1] but the common name is simply corruption.
The interesting thing the article fails to mention is most of the countries which the US imports rice from actually ban rice imports from the US. The US, specifically California central valley, had and mostly still has a huge rice industry, but since so many countries ban our imports farming rice not as profitable as it could be. The countries which ban rice imports from the US are typically trying to protect their own rice farmers.
NOTE: I'm using the term "ban" in loose manner, since in some case they just make importing rice from the US painfully difficult and expensive though endless and unfair regulation.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture