Bloomberg has a series out on the federal government’s crop insurance program, which cost taxpayers $14 billion in 2012. The articles, which reveal a textbook example of politicians and special interests teaming up to pilfer taxpayers, should be read in their entirety.
Excerpt:
Read more at http://www.cato.org/blog/bloomberg-crop-insurance-subsidies-fleece-taxpayersTaxpayers are helping farmers pay their bills even as farm income this year is expected to top $120 billion, its highest inflation-adjusted mark since 1973, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service. Farm income has doubled over the past four years thanks to rising land values and surging exports.In 2011, the median income of commercial farm households – those deriving more than half their income from farming – was $84,649, almost 70 percent higher than that of the typical American household.Even as manufacturers and retailers struggle to rebound from the recession that ended four years ago, farm equity ended 2012 at $2.5 trillion, up 37 percent since the start of the recession in December 2007 – compared with a less than 1 percent gain in net worth for all U.S. households over the same period.
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