got milk?
Good news! The U.S. government now owns 1.28 billion pounds of dried milk! In fact, in the last 10 months alone, the government has purchased $575 million dollars worth of it. (story in today's Washington Post, A19, not currently available on their web site)
As if the annual "emergency spending" agricultural bills weren't enough...
And here is what all that spending supports:
"USDA figures show that, compared with other Americans, farmers are
quite well off. The average farm household income was $61,947 in 2000, which is 8.6 percent higher than the average U.S. household income of $57,045. Commercial farms, as defined by the USDA, get about half of all farm subsidies, had average household incomes of $118,450 in 2000, and received an average subsidy of $43,379. So even if one accepts the notion that the government should redistribute wealth from rich to poor, farm subsidies do the reverse by giving taxpayer money to those with above-average incomes."
source
I am so glad my tax dollars are being spent this wisely.
As if the annual "emergency spending" agricultural bills weren't enough...
And here is what all that spending supports:
"USDA figures show that, compared with other Americans, farmers are
quite well off. The average farm household income was $61,947 in 2000, which is 8.6 percent higher than the average U.S. household income of $57,045. Commercial farms, as defined by the USDA, get about half of all farm subsidies, had average household incomes of $118,450 in 2000, and received an average subsidy of $43,379. So even if one accepts the notion that the government should redistribute wealth from rich to poor, farm subsidies do the reverse by giving taxpayer money to those with above-average incomes."
source
I am so glad my tax dollars are being spent this wisely.
Comments
Amusing.
Originally posted by Giaguara
Cool! I have dried mint chocolate chip ice cream home, I can't wait untill I can get dried smoothies ...
You will have to wait a long time ... the government is not allowed to actually SELL this dried milk. That would destroy the dry-milk business (can't imagine that is much of a business to begin with!). Basically, the only thing the government can do with the dried milk is give it to schools (most of them don't want it) or just keep stock piling it (which is why they now have 1.28 billion pounds of it).