Posted on 11/15/2006 1:46:34 PM PST by shrinkermd
Kent Conrad's Web site proclaims that the North Dakota Democrat "has been a leading voice for fiscal responsibility" in Washington...
...$4.9 billion, which is the amount of emergency drought relief the parsimonious Mr. Conrad is attempting to shovel into a Senate military construction bill in this week's lame duck session. If this is the sort of "fiscal discipline" we can expect from the new Democratic majority, K Street ought to be popping the champagne corks.
Farm-state Senators have been pushing for this handout for months, and the only good news is that they've modestly scaled back their demands. Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson had offered a $6.5 billion "relief" amendment to the port security bill in September. But Republicans said farm aid wasn't germane to port security -- no kidding -- and Mr. Nelson failed to get a vote. The GOP ought to do the same with this latest spending extravaganza, while it still has the power to do so.
...it is true that the Plains states and Texas endured a drought this summer. But the government already provides a safety net for such events: crop insurance.... .
...And don't forget federal farm subsidies. Last year alone, farmers pocketed $20.2 billion worth of commodity program payments and conservation money. North Dakota (since we're on the subject) was the recipient of more than $1 billion, much of which goes to a handful of large agribusinesses...
...Last year marked the second-highest net farm income on record. While some crops, such as wheat, have been hurt by the drought, the nation's biggest crops -- corn and soybeans -- are on track for a bumper year.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
bump
I agree farmers will see it in a different tune. Corn sold for 2.25 in 1976 and today??? 2.00....
North Dakota is a RED state, with two BLUE senators. Montana is a RED state, with two BLUE senators. South Dakota is a RED state, with (finally) one BLUE senator. These are travesties and these are the difference between a majority and a minority. Our inability to develop candidates in these states in literally stunning to those of us outside the area. How can people vote 65% for Bush and then vote for a guy who raises taxes and supports terrorist-appeasement and partial birth abortion by voting to put people like Reid, Schumer, Levin and others in Chairmanships in the Senate!??!
That being said, it is no different then the Democrats bringing home the substanance for their dependent wards of the Great Nanny State in the big US cities.
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship." - Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler (18th century Scottish historian)
Farmers have been under a socialist system of production quotas and subsidy since the 1950's.
In the name of keeping food cheap so the government can appease the poor with free food handouts, and appease 3rd world countries with free food aid, the goal all along has been to keep food cheap. American agriculture is one business that has not been rewarded for efficiency with more income. The more corn produced, the less the price that is paid. The more beef, the lower price the farmer earns.
In times where most business has indexed it's prices to inflation and cost of living, farm income has decreased per capita. $2.00 a bushel corn was a good price in the 1960's. $2.00 a bushel corn in 2006 is not a good price indexed to inflation. That is why the family farm is disappearing and being replaced by mega corporate farms.
And we all know that many corporations get government handouts, while small business squeaks by with a smaller market share every year.
Farm subsidy is a necessary evil under the current government regulated farm system. When people give away food, someone has to pay for it somehow.
If the farmers could sell their products for what they are worth rather than having the price set by commodity traders who also buy oil etc and reap the profits while raping the hard working American Farmer, agriculture might be a business that young people would be interested in pursuing. Otherwise the skills will be lost forever.
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