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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

The Nation of Islam is getting farm subsidies



Your Tax Dollars at Work
Farm Subsidies Are Going to Groups in Urban Chicago


Between 2008 and 2011, the U.S. government awarded roughly $6.12 million in federal farm subsidies to several groups in the Chicago area, including a charity owned by Louis Farrakhan’s The Nation of Islam, according to a report released by government watchdog group Open the Books.

The report, titled “Farm Subsidies and the Big Dogs,” is based on data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture & information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The report examines total farm subsidies that have been paid into selected cities and urban areas.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, federal farm subsidies are being poured into several non-farming metropolitan areas, including New York City and Chicago, according to the report reports The Blaze.

Everyone wants to suck on the public teat.

Several entities in Chicago, for example, “receive the federal subsidies at their downtown loop office buildings or residential mansions,” the report reads. “Nearly every neighborhood in the city receives federal farm subsidy payments — including the Gold Coast, Downtown — Loop, Lincoln Park, and even the President’s neighbors in Hyde Park.”

A total of 930 entities in the Chicago area received farm subsidies between 2008 and 2011.

And as for the Louis Farrakhan group: Three Years Economic Savings, Inc., which is listed at his home address, received approximately $103,529 between 2008 and 2011, making it the 12th highest farm subsidy recipient in the Chicago area.

The group also received a $26,357 “commodity loan” during the Bush administration “to improve & stabilize farm income, assist with a better balance between supply and demand of the commodities,” the report notes.  This loan was signed on Nov., 17, 2008.

“(F)arm subsidies today have nothing to do with ‘preserving the family farm,’” the report reads, adding that small family farms between 2008 and 2011 received only a small fraction of federal subsidies.
 
“Wealthy investors have piggy-backed on a growing government program and made the largess of farm subsidies part of their investment portfolio. Many of these wealthy investors don’t live in ‘rural areas,’ but instead utilize ‘farm managers’ and taxpayer dollars to maximize return on their ‘farm’ investments,” the report notes.

A map showing just some of the locations in the city
of Chicago receiving farm subsidies.
(Source: Open the Books)

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