{"id":16146,"date":"2021-07-01T14:19:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T18:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=16146"},"modified":"2021-07-01T17:20:36","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T21:20:36","slug":"federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

American Institute for Economic Research<\/a>, July 1, 2001<\/h3>\n

Federal Farm Policy Is Corrupt Regardless of the Latest Uproar<\/a><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"JamesJames Bovard<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2013<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\"\"

Photo courtesy of AIER<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Federal agricultural policy has been permeated by political racketeering since President Franklin Roosevelt appointed America\u2019s first farm dictator in 1933. On Tuesday, the Washington Post <\/em>revealed that Trump\u2019s Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, purchased a South Carolina<\/a> grain plant from Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM) for a fire sale price shortly after it became clear that Trump would nominate him.<\/p>\n

ADM initially asked for $4 million for the plant but sold it to Perdue for $250,000 in December 2016. The deal was closed before Perdue was confirmed by the Senate. A few months after Perdue took office, his family trust sold the plant (along with other properties) for a hefty profit, the Post<\/em> reported. Federal law did not require Perdue to reveal the transaction on his federal financial disclosure forms since it was completed prior to his confirmation.<\/p>\n

The Post<\/em> noted, \u201cPublic officials are barred from accepting anything of value if the benefit is given \u2018with intent to influence\u2026.\u2019 The Perdue years were good ones for ADM, which hit many targets among the top issues listed on its lobbying forms.\u201d ADM is one of the nation\u2019s largest ethanol and biodiesel producers, and in September 2019 Trump added \u201chundreds of millions of gallons of ethanol to the U.S. gas supply.\u201d In early 2020, \u201cPerdue announced a $100 million subsidy of biofuels, including ethanol and biodiesel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perdue was dealing with a multinational corporation whose ethics have never been confused with the Girl Scouts. ADM has long been one of the most prominent recipients of corporate welfare. The Post<\/em> noted that it \u201chas a history of manipulating markets. In the late \u201990s, three ADM executives were convicted in a global price-fixing scheme and sentenced to prison terms. It was fined $100 million \u2014 the largest antitrust fine in U.S. history at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEthics reform\u201d is an eternal crusade in Washington, and almost every new presidential administration promises to fix the mess or \u2013 in Trump\u2019s lingo \u2013 \u201cdrain the swamp.\u201d It is unclear at this point whether Perdue violated any laws. Walter Shaub, the chief of the Office of Government Ethics in 2017, suggests that an FBI investigation of Perdue could be appropriate. Perdue did not respond to Post<\/em> requests for comments, and ADM denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the media is ignoring the vastly greater corruption of federal ethanol policy. Ethanol is holy water for Iowa farmers who profit from the increased demand for corn. But ethanol epitomizes the political treachery that follows government interventions.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 1986 Agriculture Department study concluded that increased production of ethanol costs consumers and taxpayers roughly $4 for each $1<\/a> of extra farm income. The report stated: \u201cConsumers would be much better off if they burned straight gasoline in their automobiles and paid a direct cash subsidy to farmers in the amount that net farm income would be increased by ethanol production.\u201d But instead of a straight payoff to an interest group with huge clout in the Iowa presidential caucuses, politicians devised a convoluted Rube Goldberg regime that camouflages their windfalls for wealthy landowners. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were both champions of mandating more ethanol use.<\/p>\n

Ethanol has long been hyped as a linchpin of national energy independence. But it routinely requires more energy to produce \u2014 including tractor fuel, the cost of shipping grain, etc. \u2014 than it generates as a vehicle fuel. Besides, since ethanol contains only about two-thirds as much fuel energy as gasoline, it guarantees worse gas mileage \u2014 leading drivers to buy more gasoline. It can also damage auto engines.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s Agriculture Secretary, former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, is one of the biggest ethanol zealots in the nation. The Biden administration jumped on the bandwagon despite 40+ years\u2019 evidence of its harm to the environment. The Clean Air Act of 1977 actually banned products such as ethanol. When the Clinton administration sought to mandate more ethanol in gasoline, a federal appeals court ruled in 1995 that \u201cthe sole purpose of the Reformulated Gasoline Program is to reduce air pollution<\/a>\u2026. EPA has even conceded that the use of it might possibly make air quality worse.\u201d The Congressional Budget Office admitted in 1995, \u201cEthanol evaporates quickly, especially in hot weather, contributing to ozone pollution.\u201d Stanford University\u2019s Mark Jacobson estimated in 2007 that the use of \u201cE85 (85% ethanol fuel, 15% gasoline) may increase ozone-related mortality, hospitalization, and asthma<\/a> by about 9% in Los Angeles and 4% in the United States as a whole relative to 100% gasoline.\u201d In 2018, when Trump sought to nullify a Clean Air Act provision for selling 15% ethanol in the summer, the Sierra Club denounced him for \u201conce again ignoring Americans\u2019<\/a> health and safety. Despite claims, corn ethanol is not a safe and environmentally-friendly fuel source \u2014 it is hugely detrimental to the environment and public health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why all the largesse? As Forbes noted in 2016, \u201cFrom the 2008 through 2014 election cycles, the [biofuels] industry showered federal lawmakers<\/a> with $10.9 million in campaign contributions. Even that pales in comparison to the money they spent lobbying the federal government. From 2008 to 2014, the industry spent $188 million on an array of special interest perks.\u201d According to a USDA-financed report from the Food Marketing Policy Center of the University of Connecticut, \u201cFor every dollar invested<\/a> in contributions to political action committees, farm groups obtained on average approximately $2,132 in policy transfers.\u201d (\u201cPolicy transfers\u201d is a euphemism for subsidies.)<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the vast majority of farm policy corruption is legal \u2013 thanks to laws written by politicians. Buying votes is the only farm policy most members of Congress understand. When politicians and political appointees have free rein to set prices and rig markets, only a damn fool would not expect shady payoffs. Subsidized corporations favor politicians controlling the game, since they are confident they will control politicians. But no one has ever discovered how to make bureaucracies competent.<\/strong> As Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Jim Hightower quipped in the 1980s, \u201cFederal agricultural bureaucrats couldn\u2019t run a watermelon stand if we gave them the melons and had the Highway Patrol flag down their customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the 1930s, federal farm policy has consisted of endless, often contradictory interventions to profit farmers with the most political pull.\u00a0<\/span> <\/strong>Almost a century and a half ago, the Supreme Court clearly recognized the perfidy of such schemes: \u201cTo lay with one hand the power of the government on the property of the citizen and with the other to bestow it upon favored<\/a> individuals to aid private enterprises and build up private fortunes is nonetheless a robbery because it is done under the forms of law and is called taxation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamentably, this ethical gold standard vanished from American public life long ago. Or maybe politicians simply \u201cdefined down\u201d robbery?<\/strong> Regardless of the results of any investigations into the former Secretary of Agriculture, the only way to fix federal farm subsidies is to abolish them.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Institute for Economic Research, July 1, 2001 Federal Farm Policy Is Corrupt Regardless of the Latest Uproar James Bovard \u2013 Federal agricultural policy has been permeated by political racketeering since President Franklin Roosevelt appointed America\u2019s first farm dictator in 1933. On Tuesday, the Washington Post revealed that Trump\u2019s Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, purchased […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2912,149,2911,1006,215,900,47,137,38,2910,216,24],"class_list":["post-16146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adm","tag-agriculture","tag-archer-daniels-midland","tag-clean-air-act","tag-ethanol","tag-farm","tag-fbi","tag-george-w-bush","tag-obama","tag-sonny-perdue","tag-subsidy","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nFederal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"American Institute for Economic Research, July 1, 2001 Federal Farm Policy Is Corrupt Regardless of the Latest Uproar James Bovard \u2013 Federal agricultural policy has been permeated by political racketeering since President Franklin Roosevelt appointed America\u2019s first farm dictator in 1933. On Tuesday, the Washington Post revealed that Trump\u2019s Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, purchased […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-01T18:19:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-01T21:20:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cornmoney-1200x762-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"762\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"Federal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-01T18:19:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-01T21:20:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1150,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/cornmoney-1200x762-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ADM\",\"Agriculture\",\"ARcher-Daniels Midland\",\"Clean Air Act\",\"ethanol\",\"Farm\",\"FBI\",\"George W. Bush\",\"Obama\",\"Sonny Perdue\",\"subsidy\",\"Supreme Court\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/\",\"name\":\"Federal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/cornmoney-1200x762-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-01T18:19:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-01T21:20:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/cornmoney-1200x762-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/cornmoney-1200x762-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":762},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/01\\\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Federal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Federal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt - James Bovard","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Federal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt - James Bovard","og_description":"American Institute for Economic Research, July 1, 2001 Federal Farm Policy Is Corrupt Regardless of the Latest Uproar James Bovard \u2013 Federal agricultural policy has been permeated by political racketeering since President Franklin Roosevelt appointed America\u2019s first farm dictator in 1933. On Tuesday, the Washington Post revealed that Trump\u2019s Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, purchased […]","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2021-07-01T18:19:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-01T21:20:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":762,"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cornmoney-1200x762-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"Federal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt","datePublished":"2021-07-01T18:19:45+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-01T21:20:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/"},"wordCount":1150,"commentCount":2,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cornmoney-1200x762-1.jpg","keywords":["ADM","Agriculture","ARcher-Daniels Midland","Clean Air Act","ethanol","Farm","FBI","George W. Bush","Obama","Sonny Perdue","subsidy","Supreme Court"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/","name":"Federal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cornmoney-1200x762-1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-07-01T18:19:45+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-01T21:20:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cornmoney-1200x762-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cornmoney-1200x762-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":762},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/01\/federal-farm-policy-is-hopelessly-corrupt\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Federal Farm Policy is Hopelessly Corrupt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/","name":"James Bovard","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Jim"},"description":"Bovard's homepage is at http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","https:\/\/x.com\/jimbovard"],"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16146"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16152,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16146\/revisions\/16152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}