I’m not sure why I hit on this topic yesterday but I think it’s because I read yet another account of a speech coming out of the recent CPAC fealty-fest to Trump about how the ‘radical left’ was going to turn this country into a bastion of socialism. This whole ‘socialism’ rant has been a staple of conservative pundits, politicians and Trump acolytes for a long time now. It got me to thinking about agriculture subsidies, which after all, are a form of government aid, although Republicans never address this particular issue. I know this is a very sensitive topic here in Montana, a state which is very Republican and heavily dependent upon agri-business. However, I do think it’s a discussion worth having and provides, if you will, a little ‘food for thought.’
I did a bit of research and found some interesting information. “This week the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) released an updated Farm Income Forecast. In it the USDA projects total net farm income will exceed $102 billion, a nearly 23 percent increase from last year. This significant boost in profitability for farming and ranching businesses is due almost entirely to a massive increase in federal subsidies. Direct government payments in 2020 are forecast to be $37.2 billion, constituting 36.2 percent of net farm income, the highest level since 2001.”1
And these figures do not include the $14 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funding that was authorized under the CARES act as a result of the pandemic. When you add all of this up, this amounts to over $50 billion in government subsidies to agri-business. And this is over and above other federal disaster programs that benefit agri-business or the $8.5 in Federal crop insurance. And, as you might expect with this much money on the line, agri-business has a very strong lobby and the majority of these benefits tend to accrue to large operations.
The crops that receive the most support are corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and rice. “The top five states receiving subsidies are Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, and Illinois. In 2017, they received 38.5% of the $7.2 billion distributed, per the EWG Farm Subsidy Database”2 All of these states are red states. There are smaller subsidies for some other crops and an array of tax breaks available to farmers and ranchers that are not counted in the above costs.
So, my question is,” Isn’t this type of government aid a type of ‘socialism’ if you think ‘socialism’ is a reliance upon government handouts and aid?” Of course, those taking advantage of this these types of government programs will argue that they are necessary to protect the nation’s food supply. However, “between 1995 and 2019, the top 10% of recipients received 78% of the $223.5 billion doled out, according to EWG.
The top 1% received 26% of the payments. That averages out to $1.7 million per company.
Fifty people on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans received farm subsidies. On the other hand, 62% of U.S. farms did not receive any subsidies.”2
I’m sure there are those that will argue that, in addition to the need to protect the nation’s food supply, farmers and ranchers ‘work hard’ and earn the right to these subsidies. I’ve been around enough ranchers and farmers in my life to agree wholeheartedly with that statement. Ranching and farming are hard work. However, using this as a way to rationalize these subsidies and argue against other government aid programs implies that other people who receive government aid do not ‘work hard,’ and so are less deserving of any type of government aid.
That myth was created by Reagan’s ‘welfare queen’ campaign and has been propagated ever since. There are a lot of people who are receiving various types of government aid who are working their butts off, sometimes at two and three jobs, just to try to pay their rent and take care of their families. This pandemic showed how many people in the US are living so close to the edge of poverty. The sudden loss of a job or a major medical crisis can wipe a family out quickly and, all of a sudden, they are in line at a food bank or on food stamps.
So, before all of these Republicans start screaming about socialism, I would strongly suggest that they look first at the types of government programs they are currently benefitting from and ask themselves if its really all that different from other types of government aid. Otherwise, it would seem that the definition of socialism is simply, government aid that benefits me is OK, but government aid that benefits someone else is socialism.
It sounds like our Government is fine when they help us but because of States Rights we really do not owe any allegiance to them.