Now that Super Tuesday is over and the states (Iowa, Kansas, and Maine) have voted for Ted Cruz, I thought to myself – why would these states vote for someone like Cruz who is part of the present government – knowing how corrupt it is and why these states thought as the president that Cruz could work with the Congress and Senate when he is hated in both houses.  We will be in the same situation we are in right now.

After some research, it dawned on me that it was a fact that if Trump becomes the president he is going to scan the government agencies and see where all of the money is being spent and then go through these agencies with a hatchet.  Then it hit me, as you delve into the facts – the facts hit you squarely in the face – the agricultural subsidies.  These states are voting for their pocket books not for who would be best to turn this country around.

An agricultural subsidy is a governmental subsidy paid to farmers and agribusinesses to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural commodities, and influence the cost and supply of such commodities. Examples of such commodities include; wheat, feed grains (grain used as fodder, such as maize or corn, sorghum, barley, and oats), cotton, milk, rice, peanuts, sugar, tobacco, oil seeds such as soybeans, and meat products such as beef, pork, and lamb and mutton.

The United States currently pays around $20 billion per year to these farmers in direct subsidies as “farm income stabilization” via U.S. farm bills. These bills pre-date the economic turmoil of the Great Depression with the 1922 Grain Futures Act, the 1929 Agricultural Marketing Act and the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act creating a tradition of government support.

Top states for direct payments were Iowa ($26.9 billion) and Texas ($30.8 billion). Kansas direct payments were $18.5 billion from 1995 to 2014.  Direct payments of subsidies are limited to $40,000 per person or $80,000 per couple.   Nice chump change!

In the past, in our area – some of the farmers were paid not to farm because of the over supply of a given product.   It is unbelievable how much waste and fraud our government throws around and this is one big giant fraud that I feel that Trump would do a hatchet job on..  So how many people in Kansas, Iowa, or Texas do nothing on their land and just receive a check from the government.  Nice work if you can get away with it.

The data released shows 23 members of Congress, or their family members, received $6.2 million of farm subsidy payments between 1995 and 2011.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is listed as receiving $316,535 in federal farm subsidies between 1995 and 2011. Grassley has proposed limits on the adjusted gross income used to calculate crop subsidies and crop insurance subsidies.

Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, received $332,446 during the same period. Farmers in Latham’s congressional district received $6.34 billion in subsidies between 1995 and 2011.

Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, received $16,235 in subsidy payments between 2001 and 2008. Farmers in Boswell’s congressional district received $2.28 billion of USDA commodity, crop insurance, conservation and disaster payments between 1995 and 2011.

The farm bill recently approved by the U.S. Senate would do away with direct payments to farmers, which total about $5 billion a year. However, the bill includes a provision to replace those subsidies with an entitlement that would guarantee income for the same recipients who have benefited from the lion’s share of traditional farm subsidies.

“These farm payments are not improper or illegal, but they do create a conflict of interest for these members of Congress,” said Craig Cox, senior vice president of agriculture and natural resources at the Environmental Working Group. “Some of them are major players in the 2012 farm bill debate and all of these lawmakers will be forced to cast a vote on the final bill.

So as usual, money always talks.

kommonsentsjane