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"You're Going to Lose If You Keep This Up"
The Corner ^ | May 14, 2008 | Kathryn Jean Lopez

Posted on 05/15/2008 5:41:41 PM PDT by neverdem


Wednesday, May 14, 2008

"You're Going to Lose If You Keep This Up"   [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

As Sean Hannity issued the above warning to congressional Republicans today on his show, the House — including enough Republicans (100) to amass a veto-proof majority — passed the pork-laden farm bill.

We editorialized on the bill:

The program is nothing more than a massive income transfer from American taxpayers to a small handful of very large producers who grow just a few crops; the program can’t be serving the purposes its defenders claim it does — ensuring a stable food supply and keeping farmers out of poverty — considering that a majority of American farmers do just fine without government aid; and disputes over the large U.S. and EU farm-subsidy programs have opened an apparently unbridgeable divide between developed and developing countries in the current round of multilateral trade talks. The only conclusion one can reasonably draw is that the system is broken and ought to be scrapped.

Brian Riedl wrote earlier today elsewhere on NRO:

With food prices soaring, it takes some gall to force Americans to pay billions of dollars to millionaire agribusinesses. Yet that’s what the latest farm bill would do.
Since the last farm bill was enacted in 2002, the five crops that receive the lion’s share of farm subsidies have also enjoyed massive price hikes: cotton (105 percent price hike), soybeans (164 percent), corn (169 percent), wheat (256 percent), and rice (281 percent). For consumers, these price hikes have caused financial pain domestically and near-riots abroad. For farmers, it’s a sunnier story: Total net farm income has leaped 56 percent in just two years, and helped bring the average farm household’s income to a record $89,434, and its net worth to $838,875.

During this crop-price boom, continuing to subsidize farmers makes as much sense as paying Apple to make another generation of iPods.

Yet instead of cutting, Congress’s answer is to harvest even more farm subsidies. The latest version would increase payment rates for more than a dozen crops and increase conservation subsidies. Although the same farmers already receive massive annual subsidies, plus taxpayer-funded crop insurance, Congress would also layer a new permanent disaster aid program. Release of any disaster aid would require an emergency declaration, so expect Congress to declare an emergency any week that it rains — or doesn’t rain.

Farm subsidies have long been America’s largest corporate-welfare program. Rather than help small, struggling family farmers, the majority of subsidies go to commercial farmers, who report an average income of $200,000 and a net worth of nearly $2 million.

Republican leadership ought to crack down on Republicans who supported the bill. Will it? Unlikely.

Consider, for instance:

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., netted tax breaks for the thoroughbred horse racing industry in the farm bill worth $126 million over the next 10 years, a provision that helped guarantee his support for the hotly debated bill.

The provision ensures that all racehorses are depreciated over three years for tax purposes, regardless of when the horses start training. The current tax code doesn't reflect the entire length of a horse's racing life, according to a National Thoroughbred Racing Association analysis of Jockey Club racing data.

"While many Americans identify the horse industry as one of Kentucky's signature industries, its economic impact extends well beyond the borders of the commonwealth," McConnell said.

Reidl says: " farm subsidies will continue costing taxpayers at least $25 billion annually." Yay! Thanks for the leadership!

Enjoy the roll.

UPDATE: Really do read the roll: Blunt ... Kingston ... Putnam ... What a crowd...



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 110th; farmbill; federalspending; gopcoup; kathrynjeanlopez; pork; rinorevolution
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They have learned nothing from the 2006 midterm and special elections since then. They should be removed in primaries.
1 posted on 05/15/2008 5:41:41 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

What’s the difference between a democrat and a republican? Very little if anything.


2 posted on 05/15/2008 5:45:30 PM PDT by taxesareforever (We'll never forget Matt Maupin and his service to our country.)
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To: taxesareforever

This is a joke about lawyers, but maybe it applies to congresscritters too.

A lawyer, a doctor, and a priest are marooned in a lifeboat, sharks circling. Suddenly the boat tips over and all three are tossed into the water. The doctor and priest are immediately savaged and eaten. The lawyer is left alone. Why? Professional courtesy.


3 posted on 05/15/2008 5:48:37 PM PDT by ichabod1 (If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it, and if it stops moving, subsidize it.)
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To: neverdem

Yep. The Republican party is disintegrating as we speak and yet, there are still some knuckleheads out there all but demanding that conservatives all vote for the moron moderate the Republican party has propped up as a better-than-the-other-guy candidate (which is always a losing startegy). Remove them all, and teach your party a lesson if you repubs actually care about the future of your party or this country.


4 posted on 05/15/2008 5:49:02 PM PDT by arderkrag (Libertarian Nutcase (Political Compass Coordinates: 9.00, -2.62 - www.politicalcompass.org))
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To: neverdem
And it goes on and on and on and on...

These a@@ clowns never learn...well, they're gonna learn the hard way, come November 6th...

5 posted on 05/15/2008 5:49:51 PM PDT by Boagenes (I'm your huckleberry, that's just my game.)
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To: neverdem

Agreed, but the morons keep voting them back in. It’s always the same-”Government sucks, but hey, MY guy isn’t so bad”...


6 posted on 05/15/2008 5:49:52 PM PDT by The Ghost of Rudy McRomney (Using Hillary to nip Obama's heels is like beating a dead horse with an armed nuclear bomb.)
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To: neverdem

I’m not sure whether I’d oppose the horse provision. If it’s just a matter of changing the depreciation schedule, I’d have to see an analysis to understand whether the new depreciation schedule is more fair or less fair to owners.


7 posted on 05/15/2008 5:52:05 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: neverdem

Lots of luck. As you say, they have learned nothing. This seems to be an intractable problem.

It’s a very sad business. The conservative movement had tremendous momentum going into 2000, 2002, and 2004. The Republicans were riding high. But they have thrown it all away, with pork, corruption, and me-tooism.

I don’t see how it can be turned around, because these are the guys who control the party, and they are idiots.

This happened to the Conservate Party in Canada, and they basically shut themselves out of the government for about 70 years as a result. It happened to the Conservatives in England, and with the exception of the Maggie Thatcher interlude, they shut themselves out of government for about 60 years. In fact, they tossed Thatcher overboard and went right back to their losing ways. The British Labour Party is so low in the polls they are practically dead, but I doubt whether the Conservatives will be able to pull themselves together for a national victory over them, despite their recent triumphs in local elections.

Why? Because they have forgotten their reason for existing as a party.


8 posted on 05/15/2008 5:52:26 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: neverdem
They have learned nothing from the 2006 midterm and special elections since then. They should be removed in primaries

Send some money to The Club for Growth. They specialize in dumping RINO's in primaries and replacing them with fiscal conservatives.

9 posted on 05/15/2008 5:55:28 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: neverdem

With looming food shortages and rising prices we should NOT discourage planting. We should plant every inch of ground we can.


10 posted on 05/15/2008 5:58:26 PM PDT by jdsteel (proud member of "Mothers And Children Against Criminal Aliens")
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To: neverdem

Perhaps the title should be, YOU DESERVE TO LOSE IF YOU KEEP THIS UP.


11 posted on 05/15/2008 5:59:35 PM PDT by dforest (I had almost forgotten that McCain is the nominee. Too bad I was reminded.)
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To: taxesareforever
UPDATE: Really do read the roll: Blunt ... Kingston ... Putnam ... What a crowd...

Kucinich voted "No". 100 "republicans" voted "Yes."

What's the difference indeed.

12 posted on 05/15/2008 6:03:29 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: neverdem

Re-elect no one ......vote em back too the curb !

Flush congress !


13 posted on 05/15/2008 6:09:26 PM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. ©)
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To: neverdem
"You're Going to Lose If You Keep This Up"

Given how deeply and unapologetically National Review has been into the tank for RINO Juan, these past few months: I just find this ironic as all kinds of hell, on a near-infinite number of levels. ;)

14 posted on 05/15/2008 6:15:13 PM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (If McCain really CAN "win without conservatives," then why do you care if I vote for him or not?)
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To: neverdem

Things are REAL BAD when Hannity is complaining about Republicans instead of covering for them. They better wake up.


15 posted on 05/15/2008 6:17:15 PM PDT by SUSSA
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To: arderkrag

Your “teach them a lesson” will get us a Rat president and a Rat Congress and socialized medicine and more taxes on the “rich” (read that “anyone not on the government dole”), more anti-gun laws, a return of the “Fairness” Doctrine, and a whole generation of liberal federal judges.

The only lesson I see is that you are a pouting child willing to allow the Rats to screw the whole country over rather than to buck up and vote for McCain.


16 posted on 05/15/2008 6:20:30 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: hinckley buzzard

That’s a great organization, so is the Free Enterprise Fund (same mission). Sadly, we can’t get enough folks to vote i the primaries to oust enough RINOs to make a difference.


17 posted on 05/15/2008 6:24:27 PM PDT by AprilfromTexas
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Ummm...no. The “pouting children” in this equation are the ones going, “WAAAHHHH, WE’LL END UP WITH A LIBERAL IF YOU ACTUALLY VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE!!! WAAAAHHHH!!!!” The reason the McCain will likely lose is because he is too liberal, and smart voters simply won’t march lockstep just to “keep the other guy from winning”. Haven’t any of you learned from history that voting to keep the other guy out of office fails every time it’s tried?


18 posted on 05/15/2008 6:24:49 PM PDT by arderkrag (Libertarian Nutcase (Political Compass Coordinates: 9.00, -2.62 - www.politicalcompass.org))
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To: neverdem

A scorched Earth is the only thing that will get Conservatives riled up.

Apparently.


19 posted on 05/15/2008 6:25:55 PM PDT by Radix (The Army Times will not let me post "their images" of OUR Troops on Free Republic)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

You’re right. It’s the folks who stayed home during the last election due to displeasure with the RINOs and Bush policies that gave us the current democrat Congress...didn’t work out so well so far


20 posted on 05/15/2008 6:28:01 PM PDT by AprilfromTexas
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