The American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank,
says the U.S. Farm Bill making its way through Congress cold cost taxpayers $20
billion a year.
The Price Loss Coverage provisions would cost $18 billion a
year if grain prices drop down to “recent averages”.
The supplementary coverage option for crop insurance would
cost $2.6 billion if prices stay where they are, but if they drop back to
recent averages, the cost declines to $1.5 billion a year.
“If crop prices moderate to recent historical average levels, the
House Price Loss Coverage and Supplementary Coverage Option programs will cost
taxpayers more than $20 billion per
year, more than all current spending on farm-oriented programs,” says the
Institute.
“This includes current programs that enhance farm incomes—such as
subsidized crop insurance, direct payments, disaster aid, and loan rate
programs--in addition to publicly funded research, development and education
programs that benefit consumers, processing companies, and farmers by improving
agricultural productivity.”
The full report is available at www.AmericanBoondoggle.com .
Is it any wonder the U.S. has record deficits and debt?
I think most of the benefits flow through the slippery fingers of farmers and end up either in the pockets of absentee landowners or in the banks as interest on money farmers borrow to buy land.
It's like quota in Canada which was supposed to provide a "decent" income for farmers, but they insisted on frittering it away by bidding up the price of quota and now, in the case of dairy farmers who can't bid any higher, in land.
