I am confused. (Not an unusual state for me, I realize). In today's Denver Post, Allison Sherry has an article on the potential for Colorado farmers to lose direct payments from the federal government. (See "Farms warm to subsidy cuts"). She writes:
Why are payments to farmers "subsidies" and payments to solar energy companies "grants?" It's so hard to keep up with the changes in Newspeak.
They are both direct payments from the federal government to private entities. Of course, the federal government does not actually have this money. They borrow it. Sooner or later, the debt will be paid - one way or another.
No matter what you call it, this government borrowing to give money to preferred groups will come from the pockets of future generations. It is intergenerational theft.
It is time we call it what it really is: immoral.
Colorado farmers stand to lose millions of dollars a year in direct subsidy payments for corn, wheat and soybean crops as part of agriculture reform heading to the U.S. Senate in a couple of months.
...
Colorado received more than $4 billion in subsidies, including direct payments, from 1995 to 2010.
Why are payments to farmers "subsidies" and payments to solar energy companies "grants?" It's so hard to keep up with the changes in Newspeak.
They are both direct payments from the federal government to private entities. Of course, the federal government does not actually have this money. They borrow it. Sooner or later, the debt will be paid - one way or another.
No matter what you call it, this government borrowing to give money to preferred groups will come from the pockets of future generations. It is intergenerational theft.
It is time we call it what it really is: immoral.
I understand your point, but I do think there is a difference here. The solar energy companies are developing new technologies while the farmers are producing pretty much the same corn, wheat and soybeans they were a century ago. Farm subsidies are meant to prop the market up and keep food prices artificially low while solar energy grants try to push the price of expensive solar energy down to the level where it can compete with 'fossil fuels'.
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