Suitably Flip

"And If It Stops Moving, Subsidize It."

Reagan's third law of governmental economics is playing out in mortifying fashion at the USDA.

The Agriculture Department sent $1.1 billion in farm payments to more than 170,000 dead people over a seven-year period, congressional investigators say.

It's bad enough to subsidize an activity that the free market is doing its damnedest to tell us is a poor incremental use of time and money, even when the beneficiaries are upright.  But it's downright...

"...unconscionable that the Department of Agriculture would think that a dead person was actively engaged in the business of farming," said [Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck] Grassley.

The auditors said they found that the department has not been conducting the necessary checks to ensure that subsidy payments are proper.

Well, a quick consultation of an economics textbook would be enough to identify the subsidy payments as improper.  Still, setting aside the economic apostasy, the practice of subsidizing deceased farmers rubs even the most devotedly wanton redistributionists the wrong way.

A little.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the report bolsters the argument there should be lower ceilings and stricter limits on farm subsidies.

"Given extremely tight budget restraints, it is no longer tolerable to permit billions of dollars in farm bill payments to go to individuals who in instances don't even farm or are no longer alive," he said.

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"And If It Stops Moving, Subsidize It."

Reagan's third law of governmental economics is playing out in mortifying fashion at the USDA.

The Agriculture Department sent $1.1 billion in farm payments to more than 170,000 dead people over a seven-year period, congressional investigators say.

It's bad enough to subsidize an activity that the free market is doing its damnedest to tell us is a poor incremental use of time and money, even when the beneficiaries are upright.  But it's downright...

"...unconscionable that the Department of Agriculture would think that a dead person was actively engaged in the business of farming," said [Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck] Grassley.

The auditors said they found that the department has not been conducting the necessary checks to ensure that subsidy payments are proper.

Well, a quick consultation of an economics textbook would be enough to identify the subsidy payments as improper.  Still, setting aside the economic apostasy, the practice of subsidizing deceased farmers rubs even the most devotedly wanton redistributionists the wrong way.

A little.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the report bolsters the argument there should be lower ceilings and stricter limits on farm subsidies.

"Given extremely tight budget restraints, it is no longer tolerable to permit billions of dollars in farm bill payments to go to individuals who in instances don't even farm or are no longer alive," he said.