I commend Iowa Sens. Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin for trying to limit farm payments to $250,000. The existing limit of $350,000, with loopholes that allow landowners with good lawyers to collect millions, is patently absurd. Taxpayers' money is being used to bankroll the biggest corporations so they can continue to force small farmers off the land.
Our senators are not even trying to go far enough, however.
The Department of Human Services will tell you that a single, disabled mother of five children, with no means of support, can collect about $1,800 per month, or less than $22,000 per year. The biggest 10 percent of agricultural producers got 86 percent of the $28 billion in welfare (called subsidies) last year.
It is time we limited ag subsidies to $25,000, or perhaps $20,000, per year. Why should a "proud, independent, self-sufficient farmer" get a bigger welfare check than a poor, disabled woman with five children?
Big farmers will tell you, of course, that they take "big risks," so they are entitled to big welfare checks. The fact is, if you have a multimillion-dollar business, and you still need government assistance, you need to get into another line of work.
-Garry Klicker,
( small farmer who collects conversation subsidies), Bloomfield.
--source
No comments:
Post a Comment