Each year, the government spends some $20 billion on farm subsidies, the bulk of it easing production costs for big agribusinesses. But sometimes subsidies are available to people who aren't farming at all:
[T]o be treated as a farmer in America doesn’t necessarily require you to grow any crops. According to the Government Accountability Office, between 2007 and 2011 Uncle Sam paid some $3 million in subsidies to 2,300 farms where no crop of any sort was grown. Between 2008 and 2012, $10.6 million was paid to farmers who had been dead for over a year. [The Economist]
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Is the death penalty racist? Of course it is.'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Today's political cartoons - May 8, 2024Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - social media guilt, gag orders, and more
-
Boy Scouts changes name to Scouting AmericaSpeed Read The organization is rebranding, citing inclusivity
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescueSpeed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in MoroccoSpeed Read
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female presidentSpeed Read
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. saysSpeed Read
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprisingSpeed Read
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
