[metamemetics]

An additional problem with subsidies is the detrimant to international trade.

For example, massive subsidies make corn in America TOO cheap, that everyone in Mexico City buys American corn! Yet comparative advantage would say Mexico, with a higher proportion of unskilled laborers, should be able to put corn on the marketplace in their own country cheaper, and build up their economy.

Subsidizing exportable domestic goods has similar negative effects to tariffing imports.

[evgen]

The only glaring flaw with your argument is that corn production is a capital-intensive process, not a labor-intensive one. High-yield corn is produced using big machines and lots of nitrogen-based fertilizer. A high proportion of unskilled laborers is useless for corn, but is useful for fruits and vegetables. This is why you have large pools of unskilled migrant labor working the fields in California but now Iowa.