Carlos Alberto Montaner at PostGlobal

Carlos Alberto Montaner

Madrid, Spain

Carlos Alberto Montaner is a Cuban-born writer, journalist, and former professor. He is one of the most influential and widely-read columnists in the Spanish-language media, syndicated in dozens of publications in Latin America, Spain and the United States. He is also vice president of the Liberal International, a London-based federation devoted to the defense of democratic values and the promotion of the market economy. He has written more than twenty books, including Journey to the Heart of Cuba; How and Why Communism Disappeared; Liberty, the Key to Prosperity; and the novels A Dog's World and 1898: The Plot. He is now based in Madrid, Spain. Close.

Carlos Alberto Montaner

Madrid, Spain

Carlos Alberto Montaner is a Cuban-born writer, journalist, and former professor. He is one of the most influential and widely-read columnists in the Spanish-language media, syndicated in dozens of publications in Latin America, Spain and the United States. more »

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April 16, 2008 8:07 AM

Cut Out the Farm Subsidies Cancer

In opulent Europe (at least in Spain, where I live), nothing special will happen as a result of the price increases. Today, Europeans set aside a much smaller percentage of their wages for food than they did 10 or 20 years ago. The problem in Europe, as in the United States or Canada, is not the price of food but obesity.

It is even possible that, by increasing the price of food, the portions consumed by people will be reduced, and that may contribute to improve society's health in general. Aside from that, the high prices of food at an international level are a good argument to ask for the elimination of farm subsidies, a real cancer that corrodes Europe's finances and barely benefits 6 percent of the population.


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