[detective]

With all the problems in America today why is McCain trying to alienate farmers. Farm subsidies are not a big expense as a part of the total budget and not a big problem. Over the lasr 60 years of farm subsidies America has had cheap and abundant food supplies. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

[JaneNC]

Wrong. The subsidies for ETHANOL are outrageous and are driving food prices up...as a result

[lesser_satan]

Farm subsidies are not a big expense as a part of the total budget and not a big problem.

There are other reasons to oppose it besides the cost. The massive dislocations that ethanol subsidies are creating in the energy and food markets, to name one. We'd be better off just giving them money with no strings attached.

[Strategerist]

Farm subsidies are not a big expense as a part of the total budget and not a big problem.

Farm subidies are a pretty big budget item and a lot bigger than stuff that people stupidly get their undies in a bunch over, like Congressional Salaries and Foreign Aid.

Over the lasr 60 years of farm subsidies America has had cheap and abundant food supplies.

Which has diddly squat to do with the subsidies. There are plenty of unsubsidized industries producing cheap and abundant supplies of whatever they produce.

[The Pack Knight]

America has had cheap and abundant food supplies throughout its history, not just in the last 60 years. Also, two-thirds of our food production is unsubsidized, and unsubsidized crops have also been cheap and abundant in the last 60 years. Our country's agricultural production ain't broke with or without subsidies.

Farm subsidies were meant to be nothing more than a temporary measure to deal with a crisis in farm income during the Depression, when there were a lot more farmers than there are today and many of them were facing a serious financial crisis due to falling income and rapid depreciation. Today, farm subsidies serve no purpose; like most government programs, they're a solution in search of a problem.

They're a waste of resources and are, by and large, just a form of corporate welfare. It's well past time to get rid of them.