首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
To understand the failings of existing farm programs, it’s important to understand the roots of the current farm crisis. At the
To understand the failings of existing farm programs, it’s important to understand the roots of the current farm crisis. At the
admin
2012-10-23
40
问题
To understand the failings of existing farm programs, it’s important to understand the roots of the current farm crisis. At the heart of the problem is money—how much there is and how much it costs to borrow.
A farmer is a debtor almost by definition. In my own state, it’s not unusual for a wheat farmer with 1,000 acres to owe several hundred thousand dollars for land and machinery. In addition to making payments on these loans, it’s common for such a farmer to borrow about $40,000 each spring to cover fertilizer, diesel fuel, seed, and other operating expenses. The months before the harvest will be anxious ones as the farmer contemplates all the things that could bring: financial hardship, bad weather, crop disease, insects, falling commodity prices. If he has a good year, the farmer can repay his loans and retain some profit; in a bad one, he can lose his whole farm.
Money thus becomes one of the farmer’s biggest expenses. Most consumers can find some refuge from high interest rates by postponing large purchases like houses or cars. Farmers have no choice. In 1989, for example, farmers paid $12 billion in interest costs while earning $32 billion; last year they paid $22 billion in interest costs, while earning only $20 billion. In a business in which profit margins are small, $4,000 more in interest can mean the difference between profit and loss. Since 1985, 100,000 family farms have disappeared, and while interest rates have fallen recently, they still imperil the nation’s farmers.
This is why the most basic part of our nation’s farm policy is its money and credit policy—which is set by Paul Voicker and the Federal Reserve Board. The Federal Reserve Board’s responsibility for nearly ruining our economy is well-known. What’s often overlooked is how the board’s policies have taken an especially devastating toil on farmers. While high interest rates have increased farm expenses, they’ve also undermined the export market farmers have traditionally relied on. High interest rates, by stalling our economic engines, have been a drag on the entire world’s economy. Developing and third world nations have been particularly hard hit. Struggling just to meet interest payments on their loans from multinational banks, they have had little cash left over to buy our farm products.
Even those countries that could still afford our farm products abandoned us for other producers. Our interest rates were so high that they attracted multinational bankers, corporations, and others who speculate on currencies of different countries. These speculators were willing to pay more for dollars in terms of pesos, yen, or marks because those rates guaranteed them such a substantial return.
Multinational bankers and corporations were willing to pay more for dollars in terms of pesos and other currencies in the hope of______.
选项
A、gaining a large profit
B、helping those poor nations
C、decreasing interest rates
D、overcoming financial hardships
答案
A
解析
根据文意可知,跨国银行和公司的投资旨在投机(speculate)。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/q99O777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Sinceneithersidewasreadyto______whatwasnecessaryforpeace,hostilitywasresumedin1980.
Governmentisabasicmeansoforderinghumanrelations.【C1】______itscitizens,governmentgenerally【C2】______certainwell-organ
Governmentisabasicmeansoforderinghumanrelations.【C1】______itscitizens,governmentgenerally【C2】______certainwell-organ
Widespreadwagereductionswereimposedduringtherecessionof1906—1909andpriceinflationthereafterimpededtherecoveryof
Itwasclearthattheyabusedtheirpowerandroderoughshodoverthepeople.’
56.Analystshavehadtheirgoathumor,andIhavereadsomeofthisinterpretativeliterature,butwithoutbeinggreatlyinstru
Sofarasthefoodindustryisconcerned,theprocessingofsheepandlambsisrelatively______intheUnitedStates,accountin
Thedaywasbreakingandpeoplebegantogotoworksothemurdererwasunabletoofthebody.
Thereisanewtypeofsmalladvertisementbecomingincreasinglycommoninnewspaperclassifiedcolumns.Itissometimesplaced
Ourresearchhasnotshownusanythingsofar,sothereislittle______tocontinuewithit.
随机试题
儿童文学作品
________为鲜鱼的标志。
继发型肺结核包括
下述哪些是受体作用的特点
A.自体皮片移植B.同种异体皮片移植C.异种皮片移植D.以上全是E.以上全不是不会出现皮片与受区的连接,是指
妇产科病历内容与一般内科病历不同的是
某地1990年6月30日有男性人口13697600人,男性人口中因心血管疾病死亡18311人,其中因冠心病死亡654人,该地男性人口冠心病死亡强度计算为
编制频数表的步骤如下,除了
Ifitwereonlynecessarytodecidewhethertoteachelementarysciencetoeveryoneontheamass【B1】______ortofindthegifte
A、Everydaylifemakespeoplebored.B、Toomuchworkexhaustspeople.C、Peoplearesufferingtoomuchstress.D、They’rementally
最新回复
(
0
)