[Rhodes22-list] Farm subsidies.

[Brad Haslett]

Rummy,

Those are the USDA direct payments for one year, 2004, to 'farmers' in
Wisconsin. Their total income was much higher. Wisconsin is actually 16th on
the list of states.  Iowa is #1 followed by Texas.  Texas?  Right, cotton
subsidies.  There goes the argument about going hungry.  Cotton is the most
heavily subsidized crop.  Where does the cotton go?  Overseas to be
redistributed to us via WalMart.  Rice closely follows cotton.  Ever been to
a rice farm in Arkansas?  I used to have a handful of rice farmer clients
that I flew to racetracks around the country to watch their horses.  These
poor farmers aren't hurting.  The bulk of these payments go to huge 'farms'
and the little guys get virtually nothing.  Everyone gets this visual image
of grandma and grandpa struggling back home on the farm.  That is what these
programs were designed for by FDR but they've grown out of control.

You can do your own research at this site:
http://ewg.org/farm/region.php?fips=00000#topprogs

Play around a bit and look up your home town or farmer classmates by
name.  It gets interesting.  BTW, the Environmental Working Group had to sue
the USDA to get this information released.

Brad

On 7/4/06, R22RumRunner at aol.com <R22RumRunner at aol.com> wrote:
> Brad,
> Those numbers mean nothing since you didn't bother to explain what they
> were, income as reported, subsidies, what?
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