this post was submitted on 12 May 2024
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Repeat after me
Nationalize
The
Food
Chain
Farmers don't make enough to pay employees, groceries make too much for it to make sense, fuck that shit, crown corporation to run the whole thing.
Crown corp would be great but letting them monopolize the entire process might not be the optimal thing to do. In some cases it worked well (e.g. hydro-quebec prices are very competitive) but in others it gives them unlimited power to set the prices as they want in order to achieve a target profit, with potentially murky decisions like automatic bonuses and millions in severance payments.
Oth crown corps competing in the market allows it to be more efficient since other players cannot push crown corps out of the market through acquisition, yet crown corps have to adapt their practice to be competitive and lean; good example is CDPQ infra participating in a competitive market when building light rail systems across Canada/UK.
Crown corporations can be non profit, that's what the SAAQ is and it's the reason why it's so cheap to get insurance as a driver in Quebec compared to Ontario for example.
Singapore was able to moderate the price of groceries by opening a government owned grocery store chain called FairPrice in the 70s. This forced all the other stores to actually compete on price. Nowadays grocery stores match or beat FairPrice on cost and (shocker) are still profitable.
It wouldn't solve the production issue though. We shouldn't have to rely on foreigners to grow our food locally but people won't work in that field unless salaries and conditions make sense and that won't happen unless it's nationalized or profits are distributed in a more fair way...
Another idea:
Make the entire food sector non-profit.
Unfortunately that doesnt do anything. Non-profits are just as bad as for-profits under the system we have. Nationalization or bust. Obviously nationalization doesn't mean the federal government is in charge that still can mean that it's locally operated and run.
Non-profit crown corporation! Same for rental housing!
This is my answer to pretty much everything. Create a consistent baseline both in terms of consumer services/pricing and for employee work environment/compensation. Then let private industry compete with that crown corp. perfect example, the state of telecommunication services in Sask. Sasktel offers cell, internet and cable TV services while private companies compete along side them. The private companies have to actually be competitive(or at least convince customers that they are) with Sasktel if they want to capture any significant market share. They’re also competing with Sasktel to hire employees into similar roles, so they have to provide competitive wages and work environments. Prices in Sask tend to be lower than elsewhere due to Sasktel’s presence.
I don’t see what we wouldn’t have similar results in other industries, as long as the government actually allows it to happen and doesn’t just sell off the crowns to create a short term budget surplus or reward their buddies in competing private industries.
Seriously. Even my dad who has a seemingly near-religious belief in capitalism (hello from 'murica) thinks that nationalizing food production wouldn't be unreasonable.
(I don't think my dad is as much of a capitalist as he thinks he is, but don't even think about using the scary S word around him. He'll try to find any excuse to say that capitalism is better than socialism. I don't think he really understands what socialism is, but he's not really interested in learning either so I just avoid using the term when talking to him. *shrug*).