Bush’s administration is proposing a major to cut to the agriculture world in the U.S. These cuts are specific to the subsidies the government issues to farmers.
Bush feels that the subsidies are lopsided and need to go. It’s about time! As you may well know from previous blogs, I’m not a huge fan of subsidies, as they seem to primarily represent special interest groups.
“Two-thirds of the nation's 2.1 million farmers receive no subsidies, either because the crops they grow are not eligible or because they are too small and marginal to qualify. In the case of cotton, the proportion of federal aid going to large operators is unusually lopsided. One percent of those receiving subsidies collected 28 percent of the money paid out between 1995 and 2003, according to the Environmental Working Group. In Mississippi, seven farms out of 10 receive no subsidies.” – (Bush Administration Challenge to Cotton Subsidies)
Bush is leveling out the playing field! A huge portion of these budget cuts will directly affect the largely republican states of “Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.”
1 comment:
I don't have much to add - subsidies are a bad idea, and MEG recognizes that.
Rico's comment points in an unusual direction - our agricultural subsidies hurt producers in other countries too. Often those farmers are very poor.
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