Congress is voting on the 2008 farm bill. This bill will funnel $300 billion from taxpayers to farmers. It doesn't make sense. Farmers are wealthy. Even small farmers typically own hundreds of acres of land worth millions of dollars. The way these subsidies are structured, more money goes to wealthier farmers.
Think about the amount of money involved here. There are about 300 million people in the country, and 100 million taxpayers. So the average taxpayer is donating $3000 to wealthy landowners. On a per-person basis, including every man, woman and child, it's $1000 apiece. We're doing this every year, and it's growing.
Criticism of the farm bill has intensified this year because farmers are having a good year. Prices of agricultural products are up, so they're making more money. Congress has already helped farmers out with efforts to push ethanol, which benefits corn farmers in particular.
This is a side point. Fundamentally, there is no good reason why US taxpayers should be giving money to wealthy landowners. It's time to end farm subsidies in America. Will some farmers struggle? Sure. Plenty of small business owners struggle. When things don't work out, they give up and get a job. If some farmers can't make it without the subsidies, then they can sell their land, take the millions of dollars and live off the interest.
The Senate will be voting soon on whether to override the President's veto. Contact your Senators ASAP!
