Remember how I made fun of Jason D Scorse, who blogs at Grist, for lauding this ridic article from The Economist?

Luckily, Tom Philpott, a Grist contributing writer, debunks The Economist’s assertions with a well reasoned, informed argument — a must-read. He concludes:

The magazine wants us to return to the chain supermarkets and spend our energy instead on pushing politicians toward action in the form of “a global carbon tax; reform of the world trade system; and the abolition of agricultural tariffs and subsidies.”

It’s bizarre advice, coming from a free-market magazine: severely limit your own options and ask the government to solve your problems. And while the political goals it supports are no doubt worthy, they in no way absolve citizens from the need to wrest control of their food decisions from corporations and actively create the food system they want.

I’ve been trying to argue with Jason (read the comments here) since he put up his post, with little success. Thanks Tom, for bringing some sense to the issue, and to Grist.

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