I was just watching Bill Moyers Journal on PBS (yes to any Americans reading this I watch that lefty, pinko PBS station
). The theme today was starvation in America.
Along with the typical food bank story, there was a look at reporting done by the Washington Times (I think it was the Times) about subsidies being paid out to farmers who don't need them. There were disaster payments for lost cattle sent to people who never had a cow die (the excuse was that when the shuttle blew up and scattered debris over Texas, the area was declared a disaster site so federal investigators and funds could be used to investigate). Well as long as the area was in a disaster zone, farmers could collect payments.
Another farm bill pays farmers based on what crops their land grew ten years ago, so by simply having fallow fields these land owners were getting huge payoffs. This, the story pointed out, has led to people buying up old farms for exclusive housing, using say a tenth of the land (one acre of a ten acre plot) as the lot, and then getting payments based on the remaining acres as former rice (or corn or whatever) fields.
Governments really are getting too big to know what they're doing. That is assuming they're doing things for the right reasons to start with (and not just trying to please lobbyists, campaign contributors, etc.).
For anybody with an hour to spare, and an interest in U.S. politics or the agricultural mess the report is certainly worth watching:
Bill Moyers Journal . Home | PBS
While I know this is about the U.S. government, sadly I can't see it being much different in Canada or Australia or the U.K., and I don't know if anything can be done to fix the problems.
As for ethanol production, it is driving prices up everywhere. Farmers who used to grow wheat or other grains have now switched to corn, thereby making flour and other grain products more expensive. Bread prices have been jumping here lately as bakers are getting squeezed.
We as a society really are doing our best to destroy ourselves.
--Toronto