Cookaholics Bulletin Board

This article appeared in The Atlantic, discussing the 2012 Farm Bill (which will apply for the next 5 years). It is an open letter to Congress from several people from diverse food organizations, restaurants, and green entities.

Has anyone read the farm bill (or at least a synopsis)? I admit to not any research given that I know our Congressional delegation will support whatever bill is presented.

I do not know a lot about the bill, but after placing a call to Congressman Buffoon’s office and reading between the lines of a canned speech by his Chief of Laughs, I believe I have unraveled the theme of the 2012 farm bill.

First, it is a colossal waste of money to invest in food stamps, farmers or anyone else who actually needs the money. A farmer will just blow it paying down his mortgage or investing in stupid high tech machines that improve his land and help conserve water. Is this really where you want your tax $$ to go? Food stamps do little more than put some food on the table and seriously have little or no long term benefit to politicians so it is considered likely that they will be cut until the food riots start.

OTOH, if we give monstrous subsidies to agri-giants that do not need it, they are a whole lot more likely to invest the money wisely and purchase a few 2012 model congressmen. If the subsidies are really, really huge a senator or a presidential may be an affordable option.

Jim, thank you for the reader's condensed version. I am so stealing this...

What a great condensation!

There is a lot of intense lobbying by public interest organizations going on as well ... a lot more than in 2007. And some congressbeings are willing to consider tossing some of the hoary conventions of the past.

However, thanks to Citizens United, any pretense of public interest is liable to be buried under an avalanche of lobbyist cash. Still, it couldn't hurt to call your congressthings and tell them:

a) you support agriculture reform,
b) you oppose subsidies to multi-billion corporations,
c) congress should increase food stamps, not cut them,

and most of all:

d) the Farm Bill must include a transparency mandate for the USDA.

The last is the biggest thing. According to NPR, the USDA has less obligation to disclose their financial activities, vendors, contractors and beneficiaries than the Pentagon does. They're basically a black box and regardless of what's in the Farm Bill, the USDA beaurocracy gets to selectively enforce it with impunity.

Jim,

I love it. Nevertheless, I am suffering from a diminished marginal propensity to consume jokes along the Laffer curve. These seem to grow like corporate liquidity, with the resulting drop in the money multiplier.

cc