(Disclaimer for those who might need it. I'm not attacking farmers. I'm trying to highlight the ridiculous situation farmers find themselves in, and the entitlement mentality that develops in all businesses
because of the current tax system. Oh, and government waste in particular.)
We're shoveling our taxpayer dollars to Brazilian farmers to make sure we can keep shoveling our taxpayer dollars to American farmers — which is, after all, the overriding purpose of U.S.agricultural policy. Basically, we're paying off foreigners to let us maintain our ludicrous status quo.
That's the story on Time's website last April. About $147.3 Million dollars per year goes to Brazil so we can keep subsidizing
mega cotton co-operatives to the tune of $2.27 Billion per year. $147.3 Million is nearly the same as we paid the top 700 recipients in cotton subsidies in 2009.
So what do the American people get from this federal largess? I mean, with
Balmoral Farming Partnership located in Tensas Parish, Louisiana receiving $18,657,946
in cotton subsidies alone, and a county population of 6618, you would think residents would be swimming in champagne pools right?
Wrong. Tensas parish was the worst case I could find with
36.3% of the population living below the poverty line. In fact, taken as an average, in the counties these top ten recipients are located in, the average population living in poverty is
18.3%. Compare that with the same year national average of 11.3%
That's right, the Imperial Federal Government is paying $12.25 Million per month to the Brazilian government for the privilege of forking over subsidies to 118,449 farms, co-ops, and mega corporations. This does nothing for the public that low food prices are designed to help,
because it takes that money from the pockets of the very people who are most likely to be screwed by high food prices -
the people who pay hidden corporate taxes on everything they buy...with every dollar they have. Including the farmers I'm talking about.
But who do you think these recipients are going to donate their time, money, and votes too? A plan that puts them on a level playing field or the politician that's going to hand them gobs of cash every year? With the tax system like it is now, who can they
afford to support?
FAIRTAX NOW !!!Sources: Time, Farm subsidy database, and the 2000 U.S. census.
