Obama Dings Big Ag Subsidies in nSOTU

by Natasha Chart · 2009-02-25 06:29:00 UTC
Topics:

Obama, not-the-State of the Union; by Jason Tester

"In this budget, we will ... end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don't need them." - Barack Obama, 2/24/2009, not-the-State of the Union

Obama was talking about going after farm subsidies last year, and as Frank Ahrens said about it last November:

... With the announcement, Obama joins a long and largely defeated line of presidents and officials who've tried to kill farm subsidies, a perk as deeply ingrained in a nation built on the Jeffersonian Agricultural Ideal as any other.

Subsidies have been constructed and preserved by powerful Midwest lawmakers and are very difficult to pry loose.

To the president-elect, we say: Good luck with that. Let us know how it works out for you. ...

We might just be in enough of a pickle right now though that we can get out of excessive legacy payments to millionaires.

Last night after the speech, MSNBC's commentators were boggling that the nation had turned from being riled up over immigration to being angry at the wealthy. However could that have happened? Maybe it was rule by these people:

Whatever the reason, Obama has as teachable a moment with the country as anyone's had in a long time. People are ready to see change, and they're angry about how things have been run. Big payoffs to agribusiness aren't going to seem as important as unemployment benefits and healthcare supports when everyone knows people who are hurting.

Update: Tom Laskawy details the likely rulemaking implementation for a cap on subsidies to the already-wealthy.

(Photo credit: Jason Tester on Flickr.)

Natasha Chart
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