Posted on 08/31/2020 2:49:56 PM PDT by ammodotcom
Farm subsidies are perhaps the ultimate, but secret, third rail of American politics. While entitlements are discussed out in the open, farm subsidies are rarely talked about – even though they are the most expensive subsidy Washington doles out.
All told, the U.S. government spends $20 billion annually on farm subsidies, with approximately 39 percent of all farms receiving some sort of subsidy. For comparison, the oil industry gets about $4.6 billion annually and annual housing subsidies total another $15 billion. A significant portion of this $20 billion goes not to your local family farm, but to Big Aggie.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammo.com ...
Yet more proof that:
“Everything that the government touches turns to crap.”
-Ringo Starr
Stop Crony Capitalism.
A large part of the farm bill is actually food stamps.
I guess we could just buy all our food from china. I’m sure it healthy and inspected properly.
SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) cost 60.5 billion in 2019. That is way more than the 20 billion in farm subsidies. https://www.statista.com/statistics/315032/us-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-total-costs/
True that about SNAP...it should be its own GD budget, not snuck into anyone else’s budget. AND a yuge amount of farm subsidies are paid out to DC swamp creatures. I have posted about it before.
I moved out of the burbs into a more rural area. Lots of farms. Great hardworking people. If any of them are getting big bucks, they are hiding it really well.
I didn’t expect such a detailed article from Ammo.....well done. Shameful somehow the rich always line their own pockets with government programs designed to help the little guy. What has to happen before folks realize the government shouldn’t be in these businesses.....or most of the other things they end up distorting.
If “food is freedom”...I think it’s safe to say that there is no slavery in America.
Around 80% of the ‘farm bill’ is ‘nutrition programs’ (food stamps and other giveaways having nothing to do with farms).
EVERY govt angncy has a big welfare budget.
I am in Iowa where corn is very abundant. However, in the part of Iowa I am visiting, very little of the corn is for human consumption. It goes for ethanol and animal feed. This year however, some of the corn in the entire state was lost to hurricane winds. I don’t recall the name of those winds, but roughly a third of the crop was lost. And then, it’s been very dry. Even the wells for drinking water is running low, and tastes bitter.
Trump has done a lot to assist agriculture which has helped the family farm survive. The expenses are huge. It costs $35,000 just to have fields dusted twice per year. I can see that quite a bit of it is infected with smut. For those who don’t know, the ears of corn are small, the husk is present but there is no ear inside. Its filled with a black nasty powder. And if you don’t dust, the eareigs eat the ears that do form.
I know that many of the farmers are very grateful for what trump has done for the ag industry even if I don’t know what that all entails. I also know that the family farmers are using organic matter in the soil and not just chemical fertilizers like big ag does.
My granddaughter took me around and showed me her fields as well as the fields of the family she married into. She taught me a lot.
I expecct other farmers have their issues as well. For example, there’s no real money in soybeans, but they’re needed to replace nitrogen in the soil.
And then, some fields need to rest and stay fallow for 7-10 years to replenish so the governments assists the farmers who aren’t able to reap harvests from those fields.
One of the most important industries in our country is Agriculture. One of the least and overpaid industries are politicians and their good ole boy games. Their pay should be cut.
Food stamps should come with many,many *very* specific,*very* detailed regulations regarding types,and amounts,of food that can be bought with them. Also,nobody should be able to carry a credit balance on a card greater than their monthly allotment.
We live out in the country and whenever I can I shop at the farm stands.
I want to give the little guy the money because if I’m paying the same price at the farm stand for produce or eggs as I do in the stores, you know that what the stores are paying the farmers is an insult to them.
This way, the farmer gets the full amount of pay for their hard work.
Used to be large blocks of cheese and dried milk let’s go back to that
Don’t let Canada know. Farm subsidies in the US of A don’t exist when the US of A is taking Canada to the WTO on things like milk quota system.
The “oil industry” does not receive a dime of federal subsidies. Oil and gas producers are allowed to deduct actual business expenses and depreciate declining assets, as would be the case in any other business.
This is a huge lie perpetuated by the economists who believe every dime belongs to the feds, and whatever they allow you to keep, is a subsidy.
Farmers, however, are a different story.
I generally do not support government subsidies. However, at least some farm subsidies make sense in the context of national security. We need to be sure we never become reliant on foreign nations for our food supply, even if we have to subsidize farming or levy huge tariffs on imported foods.
I would like for overabundant supplies of specific types of food to be converted for long-term storage whenever possible. We need food reserves at least as much as energy reserves. Do not put the supply chain at risk, ever.
Same goes for our energy supplies.
Exactly.
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