13 Comments

Great take on some of the goings-on in Iowa. Now let's add row crop farmers to the list of those who are not paying the _true_ costs of production and letting them pile up for future generations of (probably) taxpayers to deal with. Loss of soil, damage to soil by use of ag chemicals, runoff into streams and rivers that have created a huge Deadzone in the Gulf of Mexico - these are all products of unsustainable farming practices that are so widely used in Iowa today. Public policy that makes landowners subject to environmental standards (not voluntary programs, which clearly haven't worked), including conservation of riparian, wetland, woodland, flood plain and prairie areas would be a place to start, along with making land that should not be farmed ineligible for government programs like crop insurance. And as long as I'm at it: ethanol, the manufacture of which consumes over half of Iowa's corn production, is only useful when mixed with fossil fuels, which are a major contributor to climate change. Just because ethanol comes from corn doesn't make it green. Iowa's amazing soils and timely rains should be used for feeding people, not putting more gas into vehicles.

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Once again you are so right! We need to get back to people over politics! I was at the We Won’t Be Silent rally today. How wonderful to be with a thousand people speaking out for human rights. Thank you Cheryl.

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Smart, sane, well-researched. Thank you.

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Thank you for connecting all these dots! I am not sure efficiency is even a goal in all this consolidation. Seems to be just profit for the few who wield the most power. Larger firms’ private property rights versus those of the smaller firms….. and in the case of governments, we see China claiming its rights over those of smaller nations. Both the corporatists and “communists” are playing the same card games at the expense of the general populace .

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You nailed it!

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founding

This column brings to light so much of what has been happening in our country since the Reagan administration. So many companies have become public companies and profit the return to stockholders is all that matters. The bill that the governor and this republican led legislature not allowing any public pension fund to invest in any company that uses ESG as a model for doing business is the largest exercise of navel gazing I have seen in a long time. It is a classic case of the Iowa legislature legislating for the past (another one in this session). When a company uses ESG as a business model they are committing to giving back to their customers, their community, and to securing a better future for their children and grandchildren. What is so wrong with that?

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