Quote :

"Dead farmers getting subsidies By PHILIP BRASHER Register Washington Bureau July 23, 2007 Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Agriculture Department has been paying farm subsidies to thousands of people who are dead, in some cases for many years, say congressional investigators. A report by the Government Accountability Office says USDA paid $1.1 billion in subsidies to 172,801 dead people between 1999 through 2005. Forty percent of that money went to people who had been for at least three years, the report found. Nineteen percent went to individuals who had been dead for at least seven years. In a case involving an Illinois farm, USDA made $400,000 in payments from 1999 through 2005 in the name of someone who died in 1995, the report said. The investigators say that USDA officials do not have the controls in place to catch that kind of error. One reason USDA has trouble catching subsidies to dead individuals is that the people were getting their payments indirectly through corporations and other business entities, according to the GAO report. "

Talk about digging a hole and throwing your tax money into it....

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/BUSINESS01/70723025/1001&lead=1

7/24/2007 8:15:37 PM

Farm subsidies are without a doubt the stupidest thing that our government does.

7/24/2007 8:19:17 PM

why?

7/24/2007 8:37:45 PM

It's outdated and unecessary

It was a bad idea when it wasn't outdated but was still unecessary

It gives free money to wealthy people for doing nothing, which is the only thing dumber than giving free money to poor people for doing nothing

It is preposterously expensive

It doesn't help the little farmer you picture when you hear "farmer," and also, that guy doesn't exist

It inflates food prices

It rapes the free market for no good reason

It is the product of the disproportionate power that farmers have in our democracy

It pisses off the rest of the world

It does nothing for the taxpayers who get stuck paying farmers both for overpriced food and for the subsidies as well

Shall I continue?

[Edited on July 24, 2007 at 9:29 PM. Reason : ]

7/24/2007 9:28:25 PM

^what he said

Quote :

"that guy doesn't exist"

for real, farm subsidies have practically destroyed the classic American small farmer

But look on the bright side, now we've got huge industrial agriculture poisoning our groundwater

and dead people getting our taxes

yea!

7/24/2007 10:24:20 PM

Quote :

"The investigators say that USDA officials do not have the controls in place to catch that kind of error. "

that would seem to be an important thing to work out before even implementing the program.

7/25/2007 9:05:20 AM

money is nothing to the government.

7/25/2007 9:28:20 AM

Billion here, billion there: it's chump change in the grand scheme of things for the Government.

7/25/2007 3:39:24 PM

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"money is nothing to the government"

I agree. Its not thier money anyway. People are always careless with money when they arent spending thiers. They can just raise some taxes, say we need it for schools, etc... then you are a villian if you oppose any more.

7/25/2007 4:06:14 PM