Agricultural Subsidies are a waste

"Since when do businesses avoid competition? This is completely innaccurate. The farming sector will respond to profit not prices. If it becomes unprofitable to be a farmer, then people will stop becoming farmers, sell their land, and retrain in a new industry. Increasing output produces more profit. So the general effect of removing agricultural subsidies will be lower prices for the consumer and a more efficient use of the farming land that is profitable. If demand for farming products is relatively inelastic to the price (which it is not) then farming will become unprofitable and we will have less farmers which will reduce the supply in the long term.My opponent is also completely ignoring goods which are elastic to price(ethanol, soda, ice cream, etc.)"Generally they don't but as explained above every kind of business is different I'm ignoring them because they're irrelevant and because you ignored them as well "I don't seem to see a problem, more efficient farms and lower prices for the consumer."That's why subsidies are necessary they keep prices down. "Paying money for a negative externality is by definition a waste of taxpayer money. Another example would be like saying the government is using your tax money to produce more pollution with no other benefit. It would be a complete waste of your money, because the government could be using that same money to build public water fountains, maintain roads. Anything that benefits the taxpayer.The governement is spending taxpayer money to pollute the rivers, streams, kill fish, boost methane content in the air, etc. This is a waste of the taxpayer dime when it could be used to do something that actually benefits the taxpayer (positive externality) or just not used in the absence of a positive externality to subsidize (less to pay in taxes) and thus be used by the taxpayer for consumption which would provide greater utility than pollution.Do you not see that from a taxpayer perspective spending tax money on something that harms the general tax payer is a waste?I have shown that Agricultural subsidies are a negative externality. My opponent has conceded this point. Negative Externalities are waste by definition. Therefore Agricultural subsidies are a waste of taxpayer money.Taxes are used (or are meant to be used) to benefit the taxpayer. If they are harming the taxpayer or not benefiting the taxpayer, then they are being wasted."This is the point I couldn't get to last round sorry. You equate agricultural subisides with being the cause of pollution. Throughout this entire debate I have conceded that their are green house gases and that cows contribute to that eutrophication is a very bad thing however what does that have to do with agricultural subsidies with money? you have connected them at all you simply can't say that agricultural subsidies aren't a waste economically but they contribute to global warming the subsidies don't do anything except maybe kill a few trees but most of the oxygen in the worldcomes from the ocean. The gov't is giving money to farmers which in turn may pollute the earth. Your argument isn't the money given to them is a waste, your argument is the money given to the farmers which they then use to pollute the earth is a waste. A man buys a gun from a store and kills his wife should the gun be put in jail? maybe the guy who sold him the gun could be put in jail, the guy who did the killing should go to jail, but the gun didn't do anything it did what it was meant to do kill that's all. the money given via subsidies to farmers do what they are meant to do keep prices down for those who cannot afford to buy food at high prices.And a public water fountain doesn't really help people at all unless they're going to die from thirst in fact most water fountains are disease ridden. And not to mention how many people have died because of road maintanance. my opponent says the gov't are litterally using money to kill ecosystems that's false. It is a negative externality when that happens however it's the pesticides that we use to kill certain diseases in our food would my opponent have us die instead?