Infinite MonkeysUpdate: Well that didn't take long. "The House has overridden President Bush's veto of a $290 billion farm bill and senators soon may follow suit. It was only hours before the House's 316-108 vote Wednesday that Bush had vetoed the five-year measure." Disgraceful.
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President Bush did the right -- and really obvious -- thing today by vetoing the $307 billion monstrosity that is the "Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008." Alas, Congress appears set to override Bush's veto. "This is really a farm bill for everyone," said Sen. Tom Harken, D-Iowa. Yes. There is plenty of pork to go around.
Actually, the term "pork" doesn't do the legislation justice. The bill is a sickening giveaway to agri-business at the expense of middle-class taxpayers at a time when grocery bills are creeping ever higher. But is it really any wonder, coming from a Congress that has no grasp whatsoever of the law of supply and demand? As the Wall Street Journal's editors observed on May 14, just after the House overwhelmingly passed HR 2419 with a bipartisan vote of 318 to 106:
Nearly every crop -- corn, wheat, sugar -- has won increases in subsidy payments even as farm commodity prices explode... Of the 17 most subsidized commodities, only rice and cotton will get a slight reduction in payments, while the bill extends the farm welfare net to lentils, chick peas, fruits and vegetables, and even organic foods. There are new programs for Kentucky horse breeders and Pacific Coast salmon fishermen, and your tax dollars will help finance the dairy industry's "Got Milk?" campaign. Oh, and you still don't even have to farm to cash in. Hundreds of millions of dollars will go to landowners based on their "historical planting average" even if they haven't planted a seed in years.And once again the big sugar plantation owners in Florida walk away with the sweetest deal: Big Sugar bagged an increase in price supports and a guarantee of 85% of the domestic sugar market at these guaranteed prices. So taxpayers are on the hook for buying surplus domestically produced sugar at 23 cents a pound and selling it for ethanol for closer to three cents a pound.
Say what you want about John McCain, but he got this one right and for all the right reasons. Meanwhile, Republicans are struggling to understand why they're losing. Here's a $300 billion clue why McCain's GOP colleagues will continue to lose, and lose big: You can't blame the Democrats for out-of-control spending when you're joining them at the trough.
Yep. But look at the bright side. US Population: 301,139,947 (July 2007 est.). Only a little over $1000 per capita. A bit under $3 per day per capita. Gallon of milk or gas is higher. And look at the benefit down the road. This $1000 is like $3000 two years down the road, so it is an even better deal for us.
Yep. Bush and McCain have it right, but that obviously makes no difference to congress. Nothing new there. Ayres probably has it right. Irony.
Posted by: john 2000 at May 21, 2008 04:29 PM