Money for Nothing
It is good to be a farmer. As this Washington Post article shows, farmers across the country received Federal aid that totaled $25 billion in 2005. Over the past several years, farmers received payments for damages by drought, frost, wind and even falling debris from the space shuttle Columbia. Isn't frost, wind and drought a risk of being a farmer, and can't farmers get insurance that would cover these business risks? I don't imagine any of these welfare payments were passed on to consumers in the form of lower crop or livestock prices. Welfare payments to farmers need to be dramatically reduced, but I bet no politician has the courage to tackle this issue.