Fat Farmers Feasting at Federal Trough

So the market of price of corn is sky high (just like other comodities, like gold and oil), yet the Federal Government still doles out billions in subsidies to farmers. Why? It’s a "safety net".

Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas (a big farming state) defends these subsidies:

Asked how he can justify millions of dollars in taxpayer money going to corn farmers who are doing very well right now, Brownback says, "Because they were doing very poorly two years ago and next year they could do very poorly."

First of all…farms are like any other businesses, and all businesses face various levels of risk. Furthermore, there are always ways to manage risk, via insurance companies or futures markets. To pretend we can legislate risk out of existence is absurd and, by overriding existing incentives of the marketplace, subsidies and such create perverse and unintended consequences.

Secondly, Brownback is not telling the truth. The real reason he’s for the subsidies is because his job depends on his ability to bring home the bacon. His constituents depend on his ability to loot the taxpayers. If he actually stood up for a sound economic policy in such matters, he would be bounced out on his ear.

Even Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson knows this. With the Iowa caucuses coming up, he’s switched his position on Welfare for Rich Farmers.