The federal government spent at least $ 1.3 billion since 2000 on farming subsidies for non-farmers, the WP reports. The 1996 farm bill tied subsidies to simply owning land that was used for farming in the past, regardless of what it is now used for, the paper found. The upshot is some homeowners collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in government cheese over the last decade simply for having big back yards. The story runs online with an interactive map breaking down farm payments by county, along with several other graphics.
[Editorial note: Perhaps this is where the government could find money for projects which aid the poor more directly.]
