Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Farming Manhattan?

The red dots on this picture represents people receiving farm subsidies from the Government.



The larger red blobs mark people receiving more than a quarter of a million dollars in farm subsidies annually.


The farm bill passed by House Democrats in July would continue giving millionaires farm subsidies (setting the income threshold for payments at $1 million a year, and keeping loopholes in place that allow some making much more to qualify). The Bush administration has proposed sharply reducing the income threshold to $200,000 a year and ending many of those loopholes. That would reduce the number of subsidy recipients by less than 40,000 (of the current million or so recipients)—though I suppose it might put some rooftop gardens on Park Avenue out of commission.

More than a quarter of a million dollars for a farm in Manhattan! Damn!
This is the problem with turning over control to the government. It rarely ( if ever) helps the people it is supposed to help.

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