2008 Farm Bill and you

If you have been awake over the last week and a half chances are pretty good - somewhere - even if you live in a metro area - you have heard SOMEONE mention the Farm Bill that just passed in the nations capitol - via a veto override on both sides of the aisle. The bill contains $307 billion dollars for nutritional, commodity and property programs all aimed at "farming". So - with a population of 301 million people in the 50 states - that's about $1019 dollars per person over the 5 years of the bills life that is heading into this program... so the question is - do you care what the government is going to do with YOUR $1019 dollars and the Farm Bill? (that's assuming all 301 million people in the Great 50 are paying taxes)
Well - it's not really fair to just call it a "farm bill" anymore - actually not even since the 1973 version when food stamps became part of this legislation. The reason this bill received such massive support to override the Presidents veto is because it has - in many respects - become one of the largest mis-labeled pork barrel bills since it's inception (back when it WAS a farm bill) in 1933.
Your slice of the bill for the Farm Bill - your $1019 or so goes to things like:

• Increased monies for foreign food aid
• Endangered species protection funding - from woodpeckers in the south-east to salmon in the north-west
• Increased spending on food stamps and other "nutritional" programs to help offset higher food prices - allowing some families to offset childcare costs with food stamps
  
• A "healthy snack" program for school children
• Financial assistance for fruit growers - first time these folks have been part of the party
• An ethanol generation subsidy for non-corn based ethanol
• changes to "country of origin" meat labeling to help the cattle farmers
• Subsidies for dairy and beat production
  
• Rural land protection programs
  

And let me point out - this list is nowhere near exhaustive - just some things I gleaned out of the 650+ pages of legislation...
Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the senior Republican on the agriculture committee has this to say: “It is no wonder that nutrition groups, food bank organizations, conservation and wildlife groups, commodity organizations, cattlemen and ranchers, renewable-energy advocates and specialty-crop producers have all united in strong support of this farm bill. Given the amount of investments in the many critical areas to all Americans in this bill, it is actually inaccurate to simply call this a farm bill.”
Is some of this legislation and spending a good thing - I'm sure. If you are getting a slice of the $307 billion - you probably think it's a REALLY good thing... But really - let's call a weed a weed and not try to sell it as Solidago.