What would you do if you were on benefits and you thought you had a chance to trick a politician into increasing your welfare check? Right. Now you know why Ongoing solution Contains 10 billion dollars to non-emergency “emergency” funding for American agriculture;

The state of emergency is that American agriculture, or some portion of it, is in jeopardy. “recession.” Like all good myths, the story begins with some facts. U.S. net farm income fell, according to government data almost 20% Adjusted for inflation from 2022 to 2023 after that fell Also last year.

This decline of around 30% in two years certainly sounds like a recession in farm country, but this is a Paul Harvey moment. The rest of the story reveals the truth behind the deception.

Annual net farm income averaged $114 billion in 2024 dollars from 2011 to 2020.

Net agricultural income in 2021 shot up to All-time highs and beyond fired again By 2022, it will reach $199 billion. The 2022 record was 74% higher than the previous 10-year average. We had a great time on the farm.

Such once-in-a-lifetime results could not be sustained, and net farm income declined in 2023 and again in 2024, as claimed.

By 2024, net agricultural income will be was depressed to $138 billion. Although it was a significant decrease compared to 2022, it was still nearly 30% above the modern average. This is the key number that the farm lobby was careful not to mention. Net agricultural income remained well above average.

The fall from a spectacular boom to a not so spectacular boom was a supposed recession that was used to justify a supposed “emergency” $10 billion in additional farm welfare spending.

Is there a hole somewhere in this logic? Maybe. The numbers above are averages for all American agriculture. While some sectors may have performed poorly, others continued to perform very well. It’s a large and diverse industry. Perhaps the additional welfare spending is targeted at farmers in underperforming sectors. Perhaps, but the numbers the farm lobby used to trick Congress into spending $10 billion in additional farm welfare were aggregated numbers.

Even when times are tough in other areas of the economy, businesses and workers adapt and endure. Something similar is happening in some areas of American agriculture. But some countries are rallying lobbyists to press Washington for even larger payments.

As America moves away from internal combustion engines, gasoline consumption will eventually plummet. Are we going to use the Washington government’s financial bailout to keep all gas stations open and keep idle gas stations afloat? no way.

Increased welfare payments to the agricultural sector keep inefficient producers operating. Unsustainable farms should be allowed to fail like any other business so that other more successful and productive farms can absorb their land and labor.

Our economic system is uniquely capable of making the nation prosperous, and it is likely to do very well under President Donald Trump 2.0. But it’s not the “kind and gentle” kind of thing. To do that, they need to move to anemic Europe.

Our economic system is tough. Failure is not an option. And it cannot function properly if Washington insists on interference. It doesn’t matter whether this intervention is due to unjust regulation or impermissible support spending.

Hardworking American farmers deserve our respect and admiration. They are not eligible for larger welfare checks. And unless Washington stops the bogus “emergency” spending, it will never stop the flood of deficits.

J.D. Foster is the former Chief Economist of the Office of Management and Budget and the former Chief Economist and Executive Vice Chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He now lives relatively freely in the hills of Idaho.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

All content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan news distribution service, is available free of charge to legitimate news publishers with large audiences. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and DCNF affiliation. If you have any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.