It’s amazing that Washington can’t get things done even when there’s bipartisan understanding that something is terribly broken.

Farm subsidies have been identified by liberals, conservative, humanitarians, capitalists, socialists and everybody else in between as problematic. The fact that we as a society are incapable of making any real reform happen, in spite of widespread understanding of the issues involved with the subsidies, is a significant indictment of our process.

The fact is, the people who score big with the subsidies turn a lot of that money right back around to politicians (through lobbyists). The subsidy beneficiaries haven’t gotten too greedy (they generously turn around a lot of money instead of hoarding it) so the subsidies are likely to continue.

So the secret to advancing personal interests at the expense of the public good - make sure to turn around a fair share of your benefit to the politicians who gain that benefit for you. Don’t get greedy and you’ll be set for at least a generation.