Government Handouts for the Rich

Though I feel Bush has been soft on fiscal issues while in office – there are two things that I give him a lot of credit for – his attempts at Social Security reform, and his attempt to reform the farm bill. I find it disgraceful that enough Republicans voted for the bloated bill to override the veto, and hypocritical to that the “tax the rich” Democrats voted to increase subsidies for wealthy farmers. The bill costs tax payers a significant amount of money and damages our relationships with international trading partners.

The Economist sums it up quite nicely:

“IF YOU measure the success of a pressure group by its ability to cram lousy policy through Congress, you might imagine that Big Oil or Wall Street would top the league: they are the lobbies most berated on the campaign trail. You would be wrong. If there were any doubt, the past few days should have confirmed that America's farmers are the capital's handout kings.”

The Economist – A Harvest of Disgrace