A letter to Andy: Andy: While I too think there are abuses of the Farm Bill “…the program is plagued by fraud, abuse and out-of-control spending….” Perhaps you should also look at the huge subsidies for agribusiness. “Since 1995, taxpayers have shelled out $277 billion in agricultural subsidies. Of that, 74 percent has gone to just 4 percent of farms. That means billion-dollar companies like Cargill and Monsanto slurp up most of the dollars, while small farms that could actually use the help get almost nothing. In fact, only 38 percent of farms collect any subsidy payments at all.” Most of that money goes to junk food ingredients, ranging from corn syrup to vegetable oils and shortening. I need not tell you, a doctor, that obesity is the biggest health problem in America that costs us $190 billion dollars ANNUALLY in added medical costs while you have done you best to eliminate healthcare funding for the neediest. You further stated that “Today, 47.7 million Americans receive food stamps.” Perhaps that is because there are record numbers of Americans that are unemployed. Long term unemployment can be devastating to a family yet you wish to add to their misery by denying basic food. The answer to unemployment lies in educating today’s workers to fill highly technical jobs, which will cost money, and bringing some of those millions of jobs home from overseas. Could you inform us what steps you are doing to decrease unemployment? As always, I am delighted to hear of the many actions you take to help your constituents.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 23:33:04 +0000
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