Farmers take a hit from federal subsidy cuts
The poor, teachers and government workers are not alone in loosing income and financial safety nets. Now
Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp was one of the Republicans who have supported the plan. He is from the First District in
Heulskamp is the committee too decide where those cuts will be made. According to The Wichita Eagle, the cuts will be an easy sell to some farmers who want to wean even them off the welfare system. Others see it as cutting the throats of some farming communities.
Huelskamp’s own parents have received $1,169,499 in federal farm subsidies from 1995 to 2009, according to Micheal Hahoney’s 20 Pounds of headlines blog. Other congressmen and women from farm states have also received some type of federal funds.
Although many of Heulskamp’s constituents are farmers, they are usually die-hard supporters of their Republican Representative. But they have never been asked to live with the kind of subsidy cuts they are facing today. Their philosophy is pure Republican and for now most believe that they will be better of if they can live without out help from the federal government. Many may find in the long run that it was not in their best interest and that the “rugged individualism” they claim to believe in will leave them in serious financial trouble should there be another disaster such as the dust-bowl days.
Once again we have those who think only in the short run. A few years ago farmers were losing a lot of money. Now the farm economy is better, but what about the next great disaster. At some point the whole Midwest could experience severe drought and if it last longer than one year, due to climate change, it could be almost as bad as the dist bowl. This debate is likely to go on all over the nation. It was the dust bowl that convinced the government that some money had to be spent on reviving agriculture. សតិវ អតុ
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