Posted on 04/22/2015 8:47:43 AM PDT by Baynative
Stealing is illegal, unless the government is the thief. On Wednesday the Supreme Court will hear a case on whether the government can seize a chunk of a business’s product to regulate prices. This is a big one.
Like much government mischief, Horne v. USDA has its roots in the Great Depression and federal programs to prop up the price of goods by controlling supply. To create raisin scarcity, the government established a Raisin Administrative Committee that manages the supply of raisins through annual marketing orders. Raisin handlers must set aside a portion of their annual crop, which the feds may then give away, sell on the open market, or send overseas.
Among the targets were Fresno, California raisin farmers Marvin and Laura Horne, who have been in the business for decades. In 2003-2004 the family farm was required to give some 30% of its raisin crop to the government—some 306 tons—without compensation. The previous year they had to hand over 47%, and they were paid less than the raisins cost to produce.
The Hornes refused to participate...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Thank you!
That worked - thanks!
It's like a scene out of Atlas Shrugged...
The government screw-ups in the area of wheat production go back at least a hundred years. When the Sioux Indians were reservationed they were to become farmers and were issued a cow. Instead they became cowboys and by the WW1 were making reasonable lives running the cattle on the reservation land. The government decided more wheat was needed and convinced the Indians to lease their land for wheat production. The cows were sold & the neighboring white man farmers planted much wheat. Soon the war was over and there was a vast excess of wheat production and the reservation wheat production ceased. The Indian’s cows were gone as was the grass for grazing.
Screw the WSJ!!
Here’s a link that’s very comprehensive! What is happening to these farmers is a national disgrace.
http://www.inquisitr.com/1105608/raisin-growers-file-lawsuit-against-usda/
And I am betting we have dozens of “Ag Boards” diddling this commodity or that, pocketing “ the gains” and not paying back the farmers.
Agreed. I’m somewhat hopeful after reading the transcript (below); even the liberal (SCotUS) justices did not seem to totally buy the govt lawyers argument.
The crux of the issue as I understood it is whether or not the govt is “taking” the raisins. The Govt contends that they are not taking the raisins (which they appear to concede that if they were, would require compensation), rather they are merely acting on behalf of a board - of which the majority of the growers are in favor.
I found the oral arguments a compelling read:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/14-275_3e04.pdf
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