The House Farm Bill this year spends 56% more than the last Farm Bill (from 2008). Why? What are we spending all this money on?

Well Heritage has put together a list of 20 Completely Unjustified Programs in the House Farm Bill, to which we commend your attention:

But there are also a multitude of lesser-known programs that will inflate commodity prices, escalate risks, and expand the size and scope of government. Below are 20 such programs that represent the noxious nature of the so-called farm...

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Why, as we have become more affluent as a civilization, are we spending more on food stamps?

Look at this chart:

Yes, some of the increases are because of economic downturns. But then, why did spending on food stamps nearly double in the years before the most recent recession?

More broadly, though, why is it that a civilization that has been, in the aggregate, growing dramatically more affluent over the last few decades, spending more and more on such programs? The cost per unit of labor of sta...

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