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Posted on 12/11/2007 5:35:44 PM PST by shrinkermd
Here's today's quiz: What do Scottie Pippen, David Letterman and Ted Turner have in common? Answer: None of them are farmers, but all three have received thousands of dollars in federal farm subsidies this decade.
We could add to that list of non-farmer farm-aid recipients David Rockefeller, Leonard Lauder of the cosmetics firm, Edgar Bronfman Sr. of the Seagram fortune, and Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen. Our point is that you don't have to drive a tractor, plant seeds, or even live anywhere near rural America to qualify for Uncle Sam's farm largess. And you sure don't have to be poor.
The Environmental Working Group has a map of New York City making the rounds on the Internet that shows 562 dots, each representing a Manhattan resident who gets a USDA farm payment. Who knew that growing cotton, corn and soybeans was such a thriving industry near Central Park? We don't know the incomes of these people, but it's a fair guess they're not homeless.
What we have here is a real-life version of the 1960s TV show "Green Acres," but in reverse. In the fictional series, Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor play a fancy couple who flee Manhattan to live down on the farm among the pigs and goats, while she pines for the glitter of Times Square. In the 2007 version, they flee the farm for Manhattan and get a subsidy check at their Park Avenue penthouse. What a deal.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
You have been brain washed.
Mr. Douglas’ wife got him to move back to New York.
Then tell me city folks, in 1975 corn sold for 225 a bushel
and in 2006 it sold for 1.60 a bushel.
A 100hp tractor cost 10,000 in 1975 and in 2006 it cost 150,000
sing me a tune ladies
Farm Subsidies will endure forever, unfortunately due to the disproportionate power of lower-population Midwest farming states in the Senate due to two Senators per state.
The subsidies amount to a reward for the farmer/rancher who cooperates with governmental farm policy by either doing, or not doing, a certain thing. For example, not planting cotton, corn, tobacco or wheat. Or, on the other hand, adopting approved conservation and wildlife management techniques.
It's not a welfare program. It has nothing to do with the farmer's income or situation -- only with governmental policy.
Most of the subsidies are either stupid, wasteful or unnecessary. Or all of the above. But I can't blame an individual for collecting them, if they earned them.
The main way civilization advances is putting farmers out of business.
When 99% of the population farmed they couldn’t do a whole lot else, and the advancement of civilization, art, industry around the world, and the economic development of this country were predicated on farmers becoming more efficient and fewer and fewer farmers producing more product.
Why aren’t we subsidizing memory chip makers because 1 GB of memory sells for some microscopic fraction today compared to what it sold for in 1985?
I’m still waiting for the “you’ll all starve to death if subsidies are eliminated” line.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
ping
I can tell you one thing, you can actually live w/o any gigibytes but let me know how long you can live w/o food.
Price of corn 1976 was $2.76 price of corn 2006 was 3.75. http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/Articles/Corn_Inflation.asp
I live on a farm, do you?
A real taxpayer scam run by the USDA is their Rural Home Loan Program. The intent is to provide mortgages in rural locations where conventional lenders are wary of investing.
The reality is a lot of the locations where USDA makes home loans used to be rural but are now suburbs and subdivisons with 1/3 acre lots.
Great way to promote agriculture—/s
Horse crap
What is really crap is the loans they make to thier friends and family, that have nothing to do with the agri business, as well as the ones made to the politically connected.
Please provide evidence to support your assertion. I believe you have reversed the situation. The government pays subsidies to producers so that the price does not fall below an artificial threshold. The subsidies keep the prices high, not low.
True, there are counties all over the country that have all kinds of Agra. dept. employees and no farmers.
“I know someone who’s in that category. Manhattan agribusiness banker, still owns farmland in Nebraska where he’s originally from, definitely not living in any “Park Avenue penthouse”.”
Please explain why this person should getting my tax money.
And some Conservatives are opposed to Government intervention in American Business.
Or Letterman. Or Pippen.
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