They do not care about people. They care about consumers -- how to make them consume more, either more of them or more per person. The surplus is the same story. In the US it is corn. The subsidies create a political pressure that does not go away. During the wars corn syrup was useful -- sugar was short, and the industrial uses mattered. After the war no one in the corn states had the guts to kill the support. The surplus stayed. In the 1970s they turned it into high-fructose corn syrup and put it in everything, because the corn was already cheap and sugar was tariff-protected. The corn states voters stay happy, the industry stays funded, and the population eats the result.
They do not care about people. They care about consumers -- how to make them consume more, either more of them or more per person.
The surplus is the same story. In the US it is corn. The subsidies create a political pressure that does not go away. During the wars corn syrup was useful -- sugar was short, and the industrial uses mattered. After the war no one in the corn states had the guts to kill the support. The surplus stayed. In the 1970s they turned it into high-fructose corn syrup and put it in everything, because the corn was already cheap and sugar was tariff-protected. The corn states voters stay happy, the industry stays funded, and the population eats the result.