Both Front Feet In The Trough - Redux

[lsc76cat]

It seems to have gotten to the point that so many entities in our economy

   have become dependent on subsidies from the government.

Probably just the way the politicians and bureaucrats want it.

Might be a stretch but it sort of reminds me of the "conflict" some of our

   founding fathers faced when trying to confront slavery.

Many of them knew it was wrong but they couldn't see a way out of

   what seemed like an economic necessity - cheap labor.

There will come a day of reckoning but as Captain Ramius said

   when he quoted Thomas Jefferson:

"A little revolution now and then is a healthy thing."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCqR0_a6_so

[sw363535]

If the subsidy is intended to support food supply then it has nothing to do with size. We in fact subsidized gm and Chrysler for reasons other than welfare.
When you categorize production to size your in welfare mentality. Your saying “don’t subsidize big but do subsidize small” - that has no purpose other than burning cash.

[sw363535]

289 thanks for the good examples of use and misuse of mindless data.
It could be said that if someone stayed in business long enough to collect that much they probably can manage a budget and understand the responsibility of property taxation.
It’s all in the twisting of data with a political purpose. And the invasion of privacy.
The government has private info on everyone nor just those up for election. And they will use it against you when needed.

[sw363535]

Using a third party is what politicians do.

[BA Deere]

SW, how do you convince a taxpayer to fund a farmbill when your smallest, oldest combine is worth more than his total networth?    I think that`s becoming the challenge.  The farmbill`s unofficial purpose is "cheap food through over production", as a farmer, I want high priced food and city people with good wages so the high priced food is still only 10% of their disposable income.  Farmers are so good at what they do that food is always at least reasonably priced.

[k-289]

Seems  real  interesting , a politician brow beats the low end foodstamp  5k  smuck,   while trying to keep a lid  of silence on their own welfare millions ,  real fine spirited mirage of let them eat cake - maybe ? 

[sw363535]

I think we killed usda when we agreed to pay a 50%+ "mafia" tax to keep it in business.  It is not worth it to have 30 billion budget to commodities with a 50 billion tax to snap.   If the public does not see the benefit of usda then cut the department.

Farmers should not believe that lie  ----- That congress does not have the votes for a farm bill. ----   I think the public would speak to its politicians if usda were taken away.......

But if not close it ........ and see if we miss it....   I think it has worth....... and is needed.....   But nothing says usda is worthless like paying "protection money" to the tune of unlimited snap funding.

I still cannot believe our representatives fell for that.   Nothing against "food welfare" but Social welfare is not usda's agenda.  

Close it down,  it has been corrupted.

[BA Deere]

Farmers that still count on a farmbill bailing them out could just as well wait for Superman or Batman to show up.  To fix what`s "wrong" in farming would take more money than what would ever be appropriated.  Always a guy with a larger planter looking for just a few more acres, who would then need a bigger planter and need more acres and eventually get in trouble,  if he operated in a vacuum it probably wouldn`t be so bad, he`d only hurt himself, but as it is we`re all on the same crazy runaway rollercoaster.  

The USDA does appear to be "corrupt" but I don`t know it`s that so much as they have an agenda of food security and that isn`t always in the farmer`s best financial interest.  There`s a difference in giving a thirsty man a canteen of water and drowning him in a lake. 

[BA Deere]

I get your point K-289, but we don`t know the details like is that all the operation`s entities that collected the $3 million or are there hidden one`s that make it even worse.  When the EWG thingy came out, we didn`t have internet so I asked my Wife to look up the local BTO and she says "well you got more than he did!"  yeah I did, but his other entities all maxed the payments, see what got a lot of those birds was the LDPs during the early 2000s years like 80 cents and a $1 LDP on grains .  It`s hard to say how biga shots they are from the EWG with all the variables.

But $3 million over 15 yrs that`s $200,000/yr if that`s all they got, that`s kind of within the norms of a independent fulltime farm, especially including those big LDP yrs.   EWG raises your blood pressure, like a Stormy Daniels show, but doesn`t tell you much.

[k-289]

Stormy   =  $132,000. oo  /  night  makes  $200, 000. oo  /  year seem  like,  chicken feed -  maybe ?