Farm subsidies started out as a?way to help hard-scrabble, family run farms, and this is what most of us think of when we hear farm subsidies.? Farm subsidies pre-date the Great Depression, when it is estimated 25 percent of the population lived on a family farm. Today, only 2 percent are living on family farms, and there remain approximately 157,000 family farms compared to an estimated 6,000,000 that existed in the early 20th Century.
Farm subsidies that were originally intended for small family farms are now also being gobbled up by millionaires and billionaires, and for most of the billionaires; their main business isn’t agriculture or farming. These are the titans of the new Gilded Age, and they are the very people who’don’t need the subsidies. These billionaires are among the wealthiest people in the entire world. Farm subsidy payouts to billionaires came to $11.3 million since 1995.
Environmental Working Group (the group that tracks and maintains a farm subsidy database at farm.ewg.org), underscored how out of whack this system is saying:
?Direct payment subsidies are provided without regard to the economic need of the recipients or the financial condition of the farm economy.
Alex Rindler, EWG policy associate, and author of the analysis explained further:
?Farm programs that benefit billionaires are indefensible and irresponsible.
This isn’t the worst of it.? Congress is now considering the passage of bills that could actually increase the subsidies these billionaires receive, right after Congress voted to cut 5 billion dollars to SNAP benefits (food stamps), cuts which took effect on November 1, 2013.
Here are some of the billionaires who received farm subsidy ?welfare? according to the report release by Environmental Working Group:
- Paul Allen, Net worth $15.8 billion, Co-founder Microsoft
- Leonard Lauder, Net worth $7.6 billion, Son of Estee Lauder and former CEO of the Estee Lauder companies, Inc.
- Charles Ergen, Net worth $12.5 billion, Co-founder of Microsoft
- S. Truett Cathy, Net worth $6 billion, Founder of Chick-Fil-A
- Charles Schwab, Net worth $12.5 billion, Founder of brokerage firm Charles Schwab Corporation
- Leslie Wexner, Net worth $5.7 billion, CEO of L Brands Inc., which owns Victoria’s Secret
- Jim Kennedy, Net worth $6.7 billion, Chairman of Cox Enterprises
- Penny Pritzker, Net worth $2.2 billion, US Secretary of Commerce
- Stewart & Lynda Reznick, Net worth $3.5 billion, Owners of POM Wonderful, Fiji Water and Teleflora and Franklin Mint (through Roll Global)
- David Rockefeller, Sr., Net worth $2.8 billion, Former CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank
For a complete list of all 50 billionaires EWG reported as receiving subsidies, read the article entitled “Forbes Fat Cats Collect Taxpayer-Funded Farm Subsidies: Forbes 400 Subsidy Recipients (1995 ? 2012).”
It’s not just billionaires who are feeding at the public trough, it’s also the politically well-connected, such as 15 members of congress or their spouses (as reported in June by EWG):
- Rep. Robert Aderholt’s (R-Ala.) wife,?Caroline Aderholt
- Rep. Kristi Noem (R- S.D)
- Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calf.) and his wife Jill LaMalfa.
- Rep. Frank Lucas’ (R-Okla.) wife Lynda Lucas.
- Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) and his wife Terra Valadao.
- Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) and his wife Lynn Fincher are each 50 percent partners in Stephen & Lynn Fincher Farms.
- Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.)
- Rep. John Kline’s (R-Minn.) wife,?Vicky Sheldon Kline.
- Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas)
- Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.)
- Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas
U.S. SENATE
- Sen. Michael Bennet’s (D-Colo.) wife,?Susan Daggett
- Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
- Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) , wife, Sharla Tester
- Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and his wife. Elaine Hatch
Details concerning individuals and companies who received subsidies can be found?on EWG’s farm subsidy page.?EWG reported that for 2012 the combined total of subsidies received by members of Congress (or their spouses) was $237,921. This sum, divided by the 15 members of Congress AND their spouses, came to 7930.7 per person or 15,861.40 per couple.? The average SNAP benefit per person per month is 133.41, or 266.82 per couple, which would equate to $3,201 per year or slightly less than 25 percent of the average per couple paid out in subsidies to the 15 members of congress. Yet the SNAP recipients needed to have food benefits cut because receiving SNAP benefits makes them dependent upon the government? this from people who work for the government and benefit from farm subsidies, aka welfare for the rich.
During the debate about whether SNAP benefits should be cut, Reps. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) and Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) both invoked scripture as the basis for cutting SNAP benefits, citing that feeding the poor is a personal Christian responsibility not a governmental one.? Perhaps they could explain to the rest of us which Godly principle upholds the right of the wealthy and connected ones to feed at the public trough while denying food to those without sufficient means to feed themselves?
Edited by SS
