Farm aid

It’s hard to criticize U.S. federal aid to farmers in concept, as long as the overall-clad, up-at-dawn, hard labour sorts are the ones seeing some relief. However, while Congress wrastles over the details of a new $283-billion farm bill, a recent review of the United States Department of Agriculture database has turned up the fact that some of the hogs that taxpayers have been helping to slop since 2003 are corporate billionaires.

The existing U.S. farm subsidy bill, originally created to help struggling farmers, has allowed for generous payouts to such needy soil-turners as banker David Rockefeller, hotel tycoon William Barron Hilton and five relatives of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, Scripps Howard reporter Lisa Hoffman discovered. Hoffman found over $2-million of aid has been handed to at least 56 recipients whose vast fortunes make your own ugly life seem not worth living. Another $700,000 has been doled out to at least six U.S. senators, though a few actually do maintain functioning farms.

The Senate has recently begun debate on farm subsidy reform, but critics say the newly proposed legislation still leaves many loopholes for abuse.

by Scott Saxon