I want to highlight a well written article from Reuters dealing with the impact of Trump’s funding cuts and budget freezes on some WV farmers. Instead of interviewing your typical MAGA farmer, Reuters interviewed a young farmer by the name of Yates who claims to be an independent and did not vote for Trump. Mr. Yates got the bad news that the local food bank was not going to need any of his dairy products because Trump defunded the program that pays local food banks to buy directly from farmers. And unlike some MAGA fools, Yates is pissed off and has become politically active because he realizes that Trump is trying to bankrupt his farm.
There is also a great explanation of how pass-through programs from the federal government work, and it’s implementation was meant to help the states and cut down on costs to the federal government of hiring more people. And there is a stellar bar graph showing how dependent all states are on federal funding for their own budgets (the average for all states is 37% of state budgets comes from the federal government). Also, I had to LOL when I saw which states are even more dependent upon the federal government for their budgets.
Yes, my beloved home state of Kentucky gets 46.5% of its own budget funded from the federal government. The other big teat winners are in rising order: Missouri, Wyoming, South Dakota, Arizona, Alaska, and the winner is Louisiana. Yes folks. Approximately half of those states funding comes from the federal government.
The biggest moochers in the USA.
Oh, and when the local Democratic Party in Beckley, WV had a public meeting to discuss the USDA cuts and budget freezes to WV farmers, guess what happened?
Volunteers at this town hall - hosted by local Democrat county officials - handed out booklets of the U.S. Constitution and cookies. Organizers said they sent certified letters to invite U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice, as well as U.S. Rep. Carol Miller and Riley Moore to the event, but none had appeared.Sen. Capito, who is monitoring federal funding for schools and food banks, did not receive a formal invitation to the event, a spokeswoman told Reuters. Her office said staff are communicating directly with several constituents. Rep. Moore declined to comment. Rep. Miller and Sen. Justice did not respond to requests for comment.There were Republican voters there, along with independents and Democrats. As a sound man fidgeted with the microphone at the front of the room, someone in the back called out, "They ain't comin', are they?"
Nope. They didn’t bother to show up. The great representatives of the people of WV who love to lecture us elitists could not be bothered to talk with their constituents, even when the topic was HUNGER IN WV!
Yates hunched over his knees, frowning and cracking his knuckles. He stood up and walked to the microphone. He had no notes, he said later. "They are taking fresh, local foods out of our kids' mouths and those facing hunger," Yates said. "I've never been political, until now. If they need a new face of agriculture in this state, they dug me out of the woodwork." A cheer went up, loud and deep, filled with something close to desperation and hope, all stirred together.
Emphasis is mine.
Please have a read of the article.
