Submitted by CARPE DIEM

WSJ–We can’t wait to hear how Members of Congress explain their vote this week for the new $300 billion farm bill. At a time when Americans are squeezed at the grocery store, they will now see more of their taxes flow to the very farmers profiting from these high food prices.

Nearly every crop – corn, wheat, sugar – has won increases in subsidy payments even as farm commodity prices explode (see bottom chart above).

This year farm income is expected to reach an all-time high of $92.3 billion, an increase of 56% in two years (see chart above), making growers perhaps the most undeserving welfare recipients in American history. But that won’t stop this bill from passing the House and Senate by wide margins.

If you wonder why urban Democrats would vote for this rural giveaway, the answer is they have been bought off with roughly $10 billion in extra funding for food stamps and nutrition welfare programs. Someone should tell them that their constituents might not need this cash if the farm bill didn’t help keep food prices high.

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