Millionaires get farm payments; nobody checking

[Mari333]

Source: wwmt news

November 25, 2008 - 7:47 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional investigators say a sports team owner, a financial executive and residents of Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia are among the more than 2,700 millionaire recipients of farm payments from 2003 to 2006. And it's not even clear they were farmers.

The 2002 farm bill required an income test for the first time.

An individual or farm entity was ineligible if average adjusted gross income exceeded $2.5 million over three years — unless 75 percent or more of that income came from farming, ranching and forestry.

According to the report, the 2,702 recipients exceeded the $2.5 million and got less than 75 percent of their income from these activities. The payments to them totaled more than $49 million.



The GAO says the problem will only get worse, because the payments they cited only covered the 2002 farm bill subsidies. The 2008 farm legislation has provisions that could allow even more people to receive improper payments without effective checks.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gghwfBjir9EgnJRNo8qcohD122EgD94LJPM00


http://www.wwmt.com/articles/payments_1356149___article.html/farm_millionaire.html

No link yet.

[AzDar]

1. K & R & ...

:puke:

[acmavm]

2. Seems like a good number our 'elite' are nothing more than a

bunch of crooks. Color me surprised.

:sarcasm:

[bluedeminredstate]

3. It's so wrong.

"The GAO said it was prevented by law from identifying individuals cited in its report, but the investigators offered these examples of likely improper payments:

_ A founder and former executive of an insurance company received more than $300,000 in farm program payments in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 that should have been subject to the income limits.

_ An individual with ownership interest in a professional sports franchise received more than $200,000 for those same years that should have been barred by the income limits.

_ A person residing in a country outside of the United States received more than $80,000 for 2003, 2005, and 2006 on the basis of the individual's ownership interest in two farming entities.

_ A top executive of a major financial services firm received more than $60,000 in farm program payments in 2003.

_ A former executive of a technology company received about $20,000 in years 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 that were covered by the income limits. This individual also received more than $900,000 in farm program payments that were not subject to those limitations.

The investigators also found nine recipients resided outside of the United States — in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom, for example.

The remainder resided in 49 of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands.

Five states — Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas — accounted for 36 percent of the recipients and 43 percent of the $49.4 million in farm program payments. "


When you think about the fact that people are going hungry in this country and won't be able to heat their homes this winter it's sickening. I saw a man on the news last week who runs an organization in Boston that assist people with their heating bills. He was literally in tears because his agency cannot begin to help all of the people who are asking for help this year. Then to come across an article like this... :grr:

Jesus, with all the money that gets thrown around in this nation how is it that kids are sick and can't see a doctor and people are choosing between food or medicine? How is it that we have vets that are homeless? Stuff like this makes me so angry.

[Mari333]

4. no oversight

we can thank the bush admin once again .

[Terran]

5. 49 million is peanuts in the federal budget, but I hope this is one

of those items Obama reviews personally as he said he would and acts on. An extra 49 million in certain areas and endeavors, like mine (homelessness) could do a LOT of good.

[xchrom]

6. the thing that aggravates me is this --

that money really is needed by farmers -- and when abuses like this are reported -- as they should be -- it opens the door to cancelling needed programs.

[Merlot]

7. "...it opens the door to cancelling needed programs."

I think that' the whole idea with bushco - remember drowning gov't in the bathtub? This is how they do it. Make the gov't look bad.

[Red State Rebel]

8. This has been going on for years!

I remember seeing a 60 minutes or 20/20 thing about this 15 or 20 years ago and nothing is every done about it. It's a travesty and a joke. A bad joke at that.

[Tansy_Gold]

9. I worked for the farm credit system 1987-1989. It was rampant

then and with each subsequent change, the people who wanted more money found ways around the system.

They created LLCs and Subchapter S corporations, incorporated the partnerships and made partnerships out of corporations.

any time the government is giving away money in large quantities, there will be rich people to get the most of it.


Tansy Gold

[Mari333]

10. kicking this because OBAMA is going after it (new news)

n a speech just concluded announcing two more economy appointees -- CBO chief Peter Orszag to the Office of Management and Budget and Robert Nabors (House Approp. Comm.) to be his deputy -- President-elect Obama gave an example of one piece of wasteful government spending: farm subsidies.

Obama cited a GAO report out yesterday that said from 2003 to 2006, "millionaire farmers" got $49 million in farm subsidies despite earning more than the $2.5 million cutoff in annual income.

"If it's true," Obama said, "it's a prime example of waste."










http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2008/11/obama_goes_after_farm_subsidie.html?hpid=artslot?hpid=artslot

[Xenotime]

11. And this isn't a crime why?

[surrealAmerican]

12. Just what I was about to ask.

Why aren't these people in jail for fraud?