I love coffee shops, they're just the right level of semi-quiet and about the yuppiest places to hang besides an Apple store. Sometimes though, I've noticed that in many menus are provided that stipulate “fair trade” coffees to patrons, based on the idea that by purchasing coffee at a higher price than the market premium that can help improve the conditions of a poor farmer abroad. I bring this up because apparently a fair trade coffee shop is setting up shop down the road..
and while I’m sure that its operative financial well-being is ensured by the consumer dedication of armies of well-intentioned anthro. majors, I don’t like "fair trade" as an ideological concept. Free trade = Fair trade.
First, I’m incredibly skeptical that any significant portion of the extra amount you pay ever actually gets back to the farmer. If we buy coffee at an artificially higher price then we are bidding up the price of coffee in that given area, and presto: Enter the problem of rent-seeking. Other people in the area will scramble to enter farming in hopes of producing coffee for that artificially adjusted price, then because more people are producing more of the same good, the revenues the original farmers’ are able to accrue falls like a lead balloon. Then after all this is said and done, the price of coffee will again return to the real market price, and the only thing that has been accomplished is that more people are poorer because coffee is less scarce and more people are producing it.
Just as problematic is the capricious social conception of economics that's inherent in a "fair trade" product. I just don't buy that social justice accoutrement that's become so hip, like accessorizing awareness of a cause by wearing a bohemianly sporty rubber wristband to express solidarity.
First, I’m incredibly skeptical that any significant portion of the extra amount you pay ever actually gets back to the farmer. If we buy coffee at an artificially higher price then we are bidding up the price of coffee in that given area, and presto: Enter the problem of rent-seeking. Other people in the area will scramble to enter farming in hopes of producing coffee for that artificially adjusted price, then because more people are producing more of the same good, the revenues the original farmers’ are able to accrue falls like a lead balloon. Then after all this is said and done, the price of coffee will again return to the real market price, and the only thing that has been accomplished is that more people are poorer because coffee is less scarce and more people are producing it.
Just as problematic is the capricious social conception of economics that's inherent in a "fair trade" product. I just don't buy that social justice accoutrement that's become so hip, like accessorizing awareness of a cause by wearing a bohemianly sporty rubber wristband to express solidarity.
On the flipside, this made me crack up
Ryan Bowen and Peja are so white
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