Pigging out at the government trough

There is nothing like a little foreign perspective to realize how corrupt our political process is, and how even a self proclaimed reformer cannot resist another mouthful from the political trough. The unbelievable aspect of the farm bill is its future guarantees.

Shockingly, the bill's authors tied some future subsidy payments to today's record commodity prices, therefore guaranteeing already well-off farmers high incomes. Commercial farm households, which get most of the largesse, will have an average income of $229,920 in 2008, says the Agriculture Department. And it means, as the department points out, that the government could owe billions in subsidy payments to these big farmers if and when prices dip again.

John McCain and my "blue dog" Congressman, Jim Cooper, voted against this embarrassment.