, Columnist
Warren Steals a Page From Trump
Her latest position paper, on agriculture policy, is surprisingly tone-deaf — and protectionist besides.
Which one has a Chinese owner?
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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Elizabeth Warren’s latest position paper, on agricultural policy, is a disappointment on two fronts: too wonky to be considered a purely political document, but not nearly wonky enough to be defensible in terms of substance.
The most striking feature of her team’s plan, called “Leveling the Playing Field for America’s Family Farmers,” is what it doesn’t call for: namely, an abolition of farm subsidies, a reform favored by virtually all economists. Those payments often run more than $20 billion a year, and are typically considered an inefficient form of crony capitalism.