Farm Bill Rage!

Where should we start?

Let's start with the statistics of the salmon industry. We'll quote from this article on the subject:

Consider that the lost salmon catch amounts to $22 million dollars. Federal officials put the economic ripple effect including businesses like charter boats and ice houses at $82 million.

But taxpayers are being forced to shell out $174 million. That's on top of $60 million given out last year.

Now, call me crazy, but even an elementary school student can figure out that the numbers don't quite add up for one year. This means that the taxpayers are paying the salmon industry over twice as much as what they make in one year to do absolutely nothing. Now, if you can find any possible place where I have erred in this conclusion, please fill me in.

Now, if the salmon industry is a disaster at the moment, which is what they claim, that it's disaster relief; it's supposed to be an earmark in the farm bill (which Speaker Pelosi pushed through herself with no vote) as disaster relief. Of course, all the northwestern senators who stand to benefit by votes from the salmon industry in general were happy to push it through. Essentially, they're buying votes with your money. Now, if it's really a disaster, if it's a temporary thing, then of course giving some relief would make sense, but they've been doing this regularly for the last few years because they're overfishing. There are too many fishers.

Overfishing is just one of a whole plethora of things which essentially is just the salmon industry destroying itself. Then doesn't it make sense that the salmon fishermen, having fished the salmon halfway to extinction, should find another job? Instead, they expect to sit here with their outstretched palm to the rest of us, saying "give me free money; what am I supposed to do?" You're supposed to find another line of work like the rest of us do.

Here in Pennsylvania, what would happen if hunters hunted deer into extinction? Well, Justin points out, that doesn't happen because the state regulates hunting; you're only allowed to shoot so many deer a year. Exactly! That's exactly my point! This isn't done with the salmon fishermen... why? Look: If there are too many fishermen for the fish population, then some of the fishermen need to do something else with their lives. This is called common sense.

And this is something that the farm bill does not address. All they do is throw the money out there; they don't fix the problem. They just say here, take some money for a year. It's the quick fix, just pay them. Pay them to do nothing.

I don't know how many times I hear people talk about people in America not being able to put food on the table, etc. (Editor's Note: There are no hungry people in the U.S. But David disagrees, so let's go on.) But some people in America obviously can't afford food, or else we wouldn't have something called food stamps; right? (Editor's Note: But they can afford cable TV and cigarettes.) So they're receiving food stamps, and this bill basically pays for the food stamps, and then they give the food stamps to the people, is essentially what's happening. Yet the same bill is paying farmers to not grow crops when they could be. Why? Because obviously we need to keep the supply of food down in a world where people starve to death every day. Maybe we should just take all the extra food we grow, send it down to the Mexican border and tell them to take the food and stop climbing over the fence.

With the world food program that we contribute to every year, do we give them food or do we give them money? Money. So we're paying our farmers not to grow crops, and then we're paying the food program to buy food. It's almost as if our government wants to waste money. Can you imagine? As an extra discussion question: How much of that money do you think is actually being used to buy food? (Editor's Note: $10 says it's less than 10%.)

And if that doesn't tweak you enough, just think about how this is only one of dozens of bills that Congress happily sends through every year that siphon ever-increasing amounts of money out of our pockets. And they're wondering why we're on the verge of a depression?

At what point are you going to stand up to our government's flagrant financial irresponsibility and tell them enough is enough?