Monday, June 11, 2007

I hope they use it for football scholarships...

The USDA has made subsidy data much more personal.
It's not just wealthy individuals who get farm subsidies - state governments are reaping the benefits too. In Arkansas, for example, EWG ranks the state's Department of Correction as the top subsidy beneficiary, pulling in nearly $2.3 million from 2003-2005. The University of Illinois is first in Illinois, with nearly $1.3 million in payments for the three-year period. [More] [Emphasis added]
I just don't get any sense of outrage, but maybe the combined efforts of disparate voices such as Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) will have some effect:
Current farm policy favors corporate special interests. Fully 70 percent of the payments go to the top 10 percent of farmers, and even more of that benefit is concentrated for the large processors. What’s more, aid is so concentrated in a few powerful states that the support received by most states is almost negligible. We deserve a food and farm policy that serves all Americans, not just the politically-connected. [More]
It would be easy to giggle about a liberal from Oregon wandering into the farm policy debate like a choirboy into a pool hall, but efforts like these have sprung up all over. While they may be too diffuse politically to accomplish much, we DCP-collectors need to remember we can't fool all of the people all of the time.

If the issue is decided in committee, we can extrapolate our future pretty easily. If it is determined by the Congress as a whole, who knows?

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