Which leads one to wonder just what those subsidies have done to those Western Kentucky farmers who Paul obviously thinks is the problem, not Corporate Welfare and taxes for the wealthy. You see, in the narrow world view of Rand Paul, government should have no role in helping its people. And that is just what farm subsidies do for Western Kentucky farmers:
Jerry Gentry, who operates a dairy farm on land in northern Pulaski County that his father cleared with a mule, said he has lost money the past three years as costs went up and the price he got for milk went down.
He has taken money from his savings and extra work on other farms to stay afloat. In May, he gave up his health insurance.
Gentry, 49, said he would have been forced to quit the dairy operation last year if not for $11,000 in milk-subsidy payments he got on gross sales of $230,000.
"To me, it's like unemployment," he said of subsidies. "It's to get you through the hard times until times get better."
http://www.kentucky.com/...
Oh no. Mr. Gentry really better watch out now. We know how Republicans hate paying unemployment to the folks who have lost their jobs because Republicans crashed the economy. Doing so would admit how dismal a failure their ideology really was. They cannot do that.
And what of the Mad Doctor's claim that 234 dead farmers received millions of dollars in subsidies as an argument to end the practice?? Fully discredited:
Paul said a survey showed the USDA had paid 234 dead farmers a total of more than $9 million in the Miami area in 2009, and he said the government paid subsidies to 2,700 farmers nationwide who made more than $2 million.
Tim Manning, the head of the USDA's Farm Service Agency office in Florida, said the agency did not pay 234 dead farmers. "That's absolutely absurd," Manning said.
He looked into the issue after being contacted about Paul's statement and determined there were five cases in which farmers qualified for a subsidy, then died, and the money went to their estates.
And of course Paul has overblown the amount of subsidies received by Western Kentucky farmers. In fact, these subsidies do not even come close to making them "millionaires":
Ellis said subsidies help provide working capital but don't make farmers rich. For instance, subsidies made up only 2.5 percent of the partnership's revenue last year, when grain prices were good, he said.
"It's not money that we can stick somewhere and take a cruise with it," Ellis said. "It's something that gives us stability."
Roughly 80 percent of the farmers in Kentucky who received subsidies during the past 15 years got less than $10,000, according to the Environmental Working Group's analysis.
Yes, it appears as if these subsidies are not allowing for our farmers to "take a cruise" like the Corporate Welfare and huge tax cuts for Corporations and the very rich allow Corporate fatcats to do, they are merely allowing hard working Kentuckians to make ends meet. That is something that bothers Rand Paul and his tea-bag masses more than anything. How dare Kentucky's farmers cut into the huge profits of Wall St. and Corporate America!! I mean all they do is grow food!! We can always import that from China.
So, before voting for Rand Paul Western Kentucky farmers should take a second look. Their very lives and livelihoods are at stake and Rand Paul does not think they work hard enough. Yes, the real backbone of America to Paul is the Corporate fatcats who robbed us blind and our farmers should just shut up and quit milking off the government in his estimation.
Rand Paul is the typical Republican. We can afford billions for Corporate Welfare but not one single dime for our workers, or farmers or anyone else for that matter. If you farm in Kentucky and are supporting Rand Paul be careful what you wish for, it might come true.
Help beat Rand Paul and the McConnell machine here:
http://www.actblue.com/...
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