Farm Bill: Oh Lord Won't You Buy Me, a Mercedes Benz
Today, Scripps Howard columnist Deroy Murdoch questions the logic of subsidy payments to profitable farm operations in times of record farm income and record prices for crops in the marketplace.
But as today's farmers enjoy sky-high incomes, this bill's advocates soon may explode into laughter while pleading for the perennially doomed "family farm." In fact, agricultural prices, profits and property values all are up dramatically, some at all-time highs.
Mr. Murdoch also references a previous Wall Street Journal piece reporting on what some in farm country are doing with the dividends from a robust farm economy.
"Farmers have a lot of money to spend," said corn and soybean farmer Jerry Carder, who bought a 2008 Mercedes-Benz ML 350 for $40,000. Corn and soybean farmer Brad Beckwith purchased a $339,000, 4,000-square-foot house last August. He added a flagstone patio, a hot tub and a 65-inch TV.
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