This NPR article is a very concerning read. Unfortunately, it exemplifies how the current administration operates. Farm bailouts are another government agency sidestepping congress to spend taxpayer money to advance the administration’s political agenda.
A quote from the article:
“ According to studies by several independent economists, the USDA is paying farmers roughly twice as much as the actual harm that they suffered from the trade war. And the payments are based on production; the bigger the farm, the bigger the payments. Thousands of farmers got more than $100,000 each. According to an NPR analysis of USDA records of payments made through July 2019, 100,000 individuals collected just over 70% of the money.“
I can’t speak for others, but I can speak for myself: this sure looks like buying (and overpaying for) votes of rural America while making everyone else (taxpayers) foot the bill. Paying larger farmers more money than smaller farmers appears similar to civil war times where those who owned “enough” slaves didn’t have to fight and die in the war. The effect? The many poor fought and died so the few rich could maintain and expand their ownership of slaves.
To me, small farmers getting paid little to secure their vote while larger farmers get paid substantially more is the same perpetuation wealth transfer from the many poor to the few rich. In other words, the wealth gap is widening at the behest of the current administration. And the widening is implemented on multiple fronts.
This administration, with tax breaks on both personal and corporate income, has done far more for the likes of Tim Cook (Apple up 80% last year) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO) than virtually the entire base that voted for the administration. The rich have gotten way richer. The poor were bought off with some peanuts – and in some cases had peanuts taken away from them (700,000 losing food stamps this year).
Sorry this turned into an opinion piece. But hopefully this sheds some light on the tools used by the administration to widen the wealth gap.
Happy New Year!
-Dr. Moore
Efficient Minds™ 