The Cost of Bipartisan "Cooperation" in Washington D.C.

I seriously don't know what the answer is...

THIS actually IS the "Democratic Process" in action.

Folks... our "representatives" - be they Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives - are going to continue "redistributing" our hard-earned wealth to those who either vote for them or donate to their campaigns.

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A mountain of peanuts is piling up in the U.S. south, threatening to hand American taxpayers a near $2-billion bailout bill over the next three years, and leaving the government with a big chunk of the crop on its books.

Farmers and peanut groups blame the glut on poorer market conditions for alternative crops, such as cotton and corn, and improving yields as a result of crop rotation and new varieties. Experts say it is the consequence of recent changes in farm policies that create incentives for farmers to keep adding to excess supply. One way or another, U.S. farmers look set to keep producing more peanuts than Americans can consume, leaving taxpayers on the hook.

* WHY...?!?! IN WHAT SANE WORLD SHOULD YOU AND I BE RESPONSIBLE FOR BAILING OUT PRIVATE BUSINESSES - NAMELY... FARMS? (CORPORATE FARMS, FOLKS; NOT JUST MOM AND POP "FAMILY" FARMS.)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is paying farmers most of the difference between the "reference price" of $535 per ton (26.75 cents per lb) and market prices, now below $400 per ton. A Nov. 18 report to Congress estimates such payments this year for peanuts exceed those for corn and soybeans by more than $100 per acre.

* NO... THE USDA IS NOT "PAYING" FARMERS - OR RATHER CORPORATIONS; YOU AND I ARE! THE GOVERNMENT IS SIMPLY "REDISTRIBUTING" OUR HARD-EARNED MONEY TO BUSINESSES WHICH SCREWED UP!

Government loan guarantees mean once prices fall below levels used to value their crops as collateral, farmers have an incentive to default on the loans and hand over the peanuts to the USDA rather than sell them to make the payments.

* FOLKS... YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS $HIT UP!

Through forfeitures, the USDA amassed 145,000 tons of peanuts from last year's crop, its largest stockpile in at least nine years, according to data compiled by Reuters.

Payments to peanut farmers could total between $960 million and $1.9 billion through fiscal 2018, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and USDA projections cited in the Congressional Research Service report.

The 2014 Farm Bill set high peanut reference prices relative to historic averages and cut support for production of cotton, an alternative crop, encouraging growers to dedicate more acres to peanuts, the report and experts said.

* BIPARTISANSHIP IN ACTION, FOLKS...

(*SIGH*)

The government spends far more on big cash crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans, with support for corn alone expected to cost $3.6 billion this year, according to CBO estimates. Yet relative to crops size and value, peanut crops are costlier, with payments worth more than a third of the crop's value.

* SO TELL ME... WHY ISN'T VIOLENCE THE ANSWER?