Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan today offered a series ofproposals he says will respond to the farm crisis. During a speech in Des Moines, Buchanan suggestedelimination of the inheritance tax and capital gains tax on family farms aswell as new trade initiatives, including an end to food embargoes andabolition of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Buchanan suggestsmore vigorous enforcement of anti-trust laws to prevent mega-mergers in theag industry and he suggests getting rid of red tape for farmers, like OSHArules and attempts to seize farmers’ land to protect endangered species. Buchanan said there’s a harvest of heartache in the Heartland of America.Buchanan said whenever the price of a farm commodity falls below the cost ofproducing it, the U.S. government should shut down imports of that commodityfrom other countries.Buchanan called his proposals a “Bill of Rights” to preserve family farms inAmerica which he said are in danger of extinction.
