Like Pigfords At A Trough

How, exactly, did a settlement originally thought to benefit a couple of thousand black farmers swell into a general $50,000-a-head handout to nearing a 100,000 people, most of whom weren't even farmers?

Well, one part you know -- instead of money being paid to black farmers, the settlement soon applied to... blacks who could allege they considered taking up farming but were dissuaded, supposedly, by rumors the USDA would deny them loans later should they get into financial difficulty.

So... Um, okay, any black person who can write down on a claim form that he once had an "intent to farm" is now eligible for free federal money.

What could go wrong?

We already paid just shy of one billion in damages for this nonsense and now Congress is supposed to authorize another $1.5 billion to, you know, make whole all those people who now say, "Oh yeah, I forgot, I wanted to buy a farm too but didn't because of racism."

(And gee! Who could have guessed there were so many until we started writing checks out to those who would claim they wanted passionately to farm!)

In related news, I'm black, and I have always felt a need for seed.

posted by Ace at 02:20 PM

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