The Problem of French Landscapers

Today we look at the connections between French farming, China, poor economic forecasting, page 16, single derivative thinking and our investments. We wander and wonder far afield in order to get some insight into our own backyard.

Let's start in the south of France. I was visiting Bill Bonner, of Daily Reckoning fame, last weekend, deep in the heart of Southern French farming country. Riding on the train to his home in Ouzilly with Tiffani (my daughter and assistant), you could see the countryside pass swiftly out the window.

My impression was that French farmers are not so much farmers as they are landscapers. The further from Paris we got, the more the entire landscape seemed to resemble an enormous botanical garden, designed to delight the eye and soul. The fields are neat. The hay is stacked just so. Trees are planted to make the proper visual impact. It is organized. Even the cattle seem to be placed to provide the right ambience.

If ever a people deserved to be prosperous farmers by virtue of manifest pride in their craft, then certainly they do. And they would agree. They feel they have a right to some of the largest farm subsidies in the world. Threaten those subsidies and they quickly and aggressively protest.

The End of Farm Subsidies

As we drove to the rather picturesque town of Montmorillon where Bill could buy a…