i suspect the actual money the government has tied up in the CRP program is a very very small amount of the actual budget. If you don't like it i suggest writing your congresscritters. the actual payment is very low, the reason someone (like ted turner) gets a big paycheck is because he would have thousands and thousands of acres enrolled. I do not like judging a program based off of what one billionaire has done with the program, i suspect if you look at any tax exemption or government program you'll find a rich person using it to his advantage.
Okay, this is getting a little too political for VAF, but I would politely ask you to think about what you just said. We as American tax payers, have to start looking at the little things in the budget. $12 million there, $50 million here pretty soon we are talking real money!
I live in Nebraska, the corn belt of the country. This is my "ox that is being gored", this is my "back yard", these are my neighbors that are "cheating the system" and I say as an American tax payer spending money on wasteful programs like paying farmers to grow nothing but grass when there is a shortage of corn (and gasoline) is the same pure economic madness that has gotten us into this mess in the first place.
Danny, I understand your point, but I think if you really look at what I am saying: "Enough is enough" then ending wasteful outdated government handout programs that cost tax payers BILLIONS of dollars every year is a good place to start. Corn is $7 a bushel and we are paying framers not to grow it?!
Really? Seriously? We are heading into bankruptcy and still spending like "drunken sailors". (No offense to sailers, I was one also.)
The only thing CPR does is keep farm land in the hands of old rich guys when young farmers are trying to get into the farming business. Investors like Ted Turner (I have nothing against the man what so ever, it is his money, I just don't like giving him my money) buy up the land knowing the government will pay them to do nothing with it. That is wrong and counter productive to allowing young farmers to get into the business of owning a family farm / ranch.
CRP, (welfare to farmers just like welfare to people in big cities) is past its prime and needs to be killed to help the family farm survive. If you can't make a living by the land you own you need to sell it and move into town, and stop sponging off the government.
I own farmland, but I put my money where my mouth is. (Trust me, I have inherited nothing, not a dime.) I canceled all CRP contracts on land I bought 20 years ago. I told the FSA to shove their welfare checks where the sun don't shine. I don't need handouts, or welfare, I work for a living. I put my land back into production growing alfalfa & hay, and row crops. I work the land (or rent it out), and I get paid for the work I do. I don't sit back and collect farmer's welfare, never have, never will. When I can't make enough on the land either in production or rent I will sell it. That used to be the way it worked, but in today's world politicians promise welfare payments (CRP, and other farm subsidies) to rural voters to keep getting elected, and to keep 90 year old farmers from really retiring.
Okay, before this thread gets shut down I promise no more thread drift.
Lets get back to the issue.
Geico has left the building.
