[Rhodes22-list] Farming - Not Really, It's Politics

[Rob Lowe]

Brad,
I agree with McCain on his stance and see Bush said he would veto it.  But
both the House and Senate passed the original measure with enough votes to
override the veto.  Just another example of where the legislative process
goes bad.  You still enough earmarks or subsidies in a bill so that every
congress person district's get something, and you can get a bill passed.
Truly an example of government gone bad. - rob


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brad Haslett" <flybrad at gmail.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 9:37 PM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Farming - Not Really, It's Politics


As most of you know, I have hated farm welfare for years.  This was probably
not the smartest thing for McCain to say publicly but he gets kudos for
saying it when few other politicians will, especially during an election
cycle.  McCain is still a turd and I can't figure out which is the cleanest
end to handle.  Brad

-----------------------

Farming for riches It's time to wean ourselves from huge crop subsidies and
flawed policies that distort the markets and artificially raise prices for
consumers.

By John McCain

May 20, 2008

<http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v8/36c7/3/0/%2a/c%3B188005957%3B0-0%3B0
%3B12925750%3B4307-300/250%3B26579901/26597758/1%3B%3B%7Eokv%3D%3Bptype%3Dps
%3Bslug%3Dchi-oped0520mccainmay20%3Brg%3Dur%3Bref%3Dchicagotribunecom%3Bpos%
3D1%3Bdcopt%3Dist%3Bsz%3D300x250%3Btile%3D1%3B%7Eaopt%3D2/0/ff/1%3B%7Esscs%3
D%3fhttp://tribads.chicagotribune.com/jump_pages/gm/ads/0508/week3/showroom.
htm>
<http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/trb.chicagotribune/news/opinion;ptype=ps;slu
g=chi-oped0520mccainmay20;rg=ur;ref=chicagotribunecom;pos=1;sz=300x250;tile=
1;ord=84840268?>


*I* may surprise some people by saying what few presidential candidates
would ever be willing to say out loud in farm country: I'd veto the farm
bill—a bloated expansion in federal spending that will do more harm than
good.

When agricultural commodity prices and exports have reached record highs, we
no longer need government-grown farms and mammoth government bureaucracies.
As grocery bills soar, food banks go bare and food rationing occurs on a
global scale, we must challenge the wisdom of this bill. We must question
policies that divert more than 25 percent of corn out of the food supply and
into subsidized ethanol production. We must question a supply-control sugar
program that costs Americans $2 billion annually in higher sugar prices.

Can we honestly demand fair and free trade from other countries when this
bill increases trade distorting payment rates and restores an illegal cotton
program? Sen. Barack
Obama<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/>has raised
the rhetoric on fair trade and restoring fiscal discipline, but
his support for the farm bill betrays the inconsistency of his position: Cry
foul with our trade partners, but break the rules at home.

The majority of subsidies in this proposal go to large commercial farms that
average $200,000 in annual income and $2 million in net worth, and the bill
allows a single farmer to earn more than $1 million before cutting
subsidies. How can we credibly extend this largesse to this constituency? If
I am elected president, I will seek an end to all farm subsidies and tariffs
that are not based on clear need.

The farm bill will cost taxpayers nearly $300 billion, including $5 billion
for direct payments each year to farmers, regardless of whether they grow
anything. Growing better crops using less land, water and natural resources
requires a more robust research approach, but this bill spends more than
twice as much on direct payments as it does on agricultural research.

I am not opposed to providing a reasonable risk management for farmers. When
farmers suffer from a natural disaster such as droughts or floods, we should
assist them. But this bill fails to make the reforms needed to provide that
assistance responsibly.

Such sensible reforms may be missing, but the pork is not. Congress should
be ashamed of this mockery of its promise to rein in waste and earmarks.
Buried within its hundreds of pages is $93 million in tax breaks for race
horses, a $4 billion trust fund for disaster payments on top of subsidized
crop insurance that is supposed to take care of such "disasters," and the
list goes on. If that wasn't enough, this bill would send $250 million of
taxpayers' money to Plum Creek Timber Co. in Montana. Plum Creek, according
to its Web site, "is the largest and most geographically diverse private
land owner in the nation" and paid a healthy dividend to shareholders last
quarter.

It is time to wean ourselves from the huge crop subsidies being paid by
taxpayers and the flawed policies that distort the markets, artificially
raise prices for consumers and pit producers against consumers.

*John McCain is a U.S. senator from Arizona and Republican candidate for
president.*
__________________________________________________
Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list