Farmall Bailout

Well I have just too much money into my farmalls and still more parts and work to go. I don't think I can afford all I want to do so I am going to propose that the fed. govt. bail me out and still let me keep everything. If anyone is interested in joining me send me your name and list your project tractors so we can attack this in the masses.

Excellent idea! May I suggest a large bonus for you for coming up with such a good stimulus plan. :-} Allan.

Of course you will have to be prepared to consult a lawyer, fill out 400 pages of forms, and get permission from seven agencies each time you tighten a bolt...

Mark, Here's my IH tractors for your list..15-30, regular, f-12, f-14, (2)f-20, c, (2)h, m, smd, 350, 560,& 660. Would I be able to get stimulus money for tractors of minority like JD? Also, would there be a retention stimulus to keep these tractors from being sold? I mean I don't want this money to help anyone else but me, the execuative of my shop.

Just remember, before the gov can give out any money they have to take it away from someone else.

They have been taking it away from the working class for years.

What did you do with your share of the $170 billion from last year? Most of us got a $600 share of it last spring.

They didn't take the money from other taxpayers. They borrowed it from China. Now we each owe China another $600 and the economy is still in the dumper.

I don't know what we did w/ my $600, I imagine my wife spent it
on Walmart crap so it went back to China.

Mark: Just remember this, forty years ago a friend and I were entering a convention center, massive farmers meeting. In the lobby we met a friend of my friend, began a conversation with introductions and quite quickly my friend asked his friend how things were in the sheep industry. The guy shot back, "JUST GREAT, ever since the government forgot we had a sheep industry." Being a dairy farmer, I knew very little about the sheep industry other than 10 years before that our government dumped millions into the sheep industry, even started their own demonstration sheep farm. In the end the whole damn venture was a disaster.

My thoughts today, just maybe the economy would improve if the government forgot we have an economy. Take for example the auto industry, how many millions of government dollars have been dumped into new plants since 1980. If the damn governments had kept their noses out the industry would be healthy today.

Then we have CREDIT, back in the 1970s we had a country singer here in Canada, (Stompin Tom Conners) wrote a song about CREDIT. The first line went, "We save a lot of money, spending money we don't got." In 1974, I was proud that I beat the GM dealer down 20% off list on a new Olds 88. Ten years later the masses were proud they paid more than their neighbor, it showed they had better CREDIT, man of means, etc. OH MY, how the mighty are falling, and bail out ain't going to help, just prolong the agony.

Very good point, perhaps they will want to add a luxury tax on them!

(quoted from post at 11:06:34 02/03/09) They have been taking it away from the working class for years.

Click to expand...

That is where it has to come from. Those are the large numbers of people. There aren't very many rich people & corporations, relatively speaking, so it always has & will continue to come from the masses, regardless of the lies politicians, organizers & the like tell you.

What about people who don't own a tractor-or anything else for that matter. Shouldn't they get a check too! Dave

The folks that own absolutely nothing are already getting checks. It is called "welfare".

Hugh I enjoy your post so much. You have a way of putting MY thoughts in your words and it all comes out sounding a lot smarter.
Paul

Wow...farmers complaining about other people receiving government subsidies and handouts? Be careful there...without the ethanol subsidies alone would corn prices have moved much above $2.50? Can you live without CRP payments for idle land, crop price supports, etc?

Mark, if we do this does it mean we can't buy a corporate jet or go the exotic places to have business meetings? I am the CEO and my CFO, er wife, and I would like to do the planning meetings in some place like Arizona or some other warm place to thaw out.

sws55: If the government hadn't started that damn foolishness 35 years ago, you'd be better off. Let the market and your management decide whether you survive or not, not some damn bureauacrat.

hugh i think i'm on the same page as you are politically with government involvement and we're not even in the same country or of the same generation!

Also notice the cost to purchase a new piece of equipment or new replacement parts took in some cases an exponential increase in price about the same time as government subsidies became the norm for farm income? THere's likely more details to it, such as union mandated wages and benefits also increasing during that time period, but all slices make one big pie.

My dad does not believe in receiving government payments--to him it's all "welfare"--so the self sufficient dairy farm as a business venture ultimately failed since the now limited income and opportunities available all of a sudden couldn't put the crops in one year, turning into many years; buying feed is a losing proposition! The lowered farm income also hurt maintenance and repairs and replacement of worn out equipment...finally we had to give up. it was a sad day when my dad had to go to the grocery store and buy milk.

As for the automakers, the top pay should equate 40$ an hour (83000$ per year) for the top executives and the starting wage should be around 9$ for skilled laborers. Much cheaper than it is now!!! The top wage earners should have to earn it, they better be damn good! For benefits, each employee should pay 50-200$ a month depending on which program they choose and their healthy living choices such as smoking/non smoking. The products should go back to the basics: a few models, some 4cyl, some 6, some 8, all available as 2 doors, 4 doors, a wagon, and one convertible model; There can always be one short run novelty model that could be tomorrow's classic, after 3 or 4 model years release something new, just make sure it's a worthy car; the idiot proofing systems need to go, basic instumentation and common sense are all you really need, they should not have to be programmed into your car; The HVAC systems only need to have heat, optional A/c and a mechanical flapper door for heat adjustment, none of this heat and cool your butt, back, and face at different temperatures for each passenger and driver. Safety and economy equipment mandates need to be relaxed a little bit, especially when common sense and proper driver's training would do just as much or more good. (a little push for progress and improvements isn't bad but in many ways the mandates are too strict or too costly) The truck line will be simplified, all trucks will ride like trucks, and actually have drivetrains that are for truck work, not doing 0-80 mph in 5 seconds. The customers that want fancy options on their cars or trucks will have to special order them, and pay for them, and some options should even be farmed out to customization companies. etc...

some opinions i have,

karl f

Hugh,

I don't disagree with you one bit. Mark's posting was obviously written in fun, I liked it, and I'm poking back in fun too. To most people, in the U.S. anyway, farmers (corporate agribusiness) complaining about government programs does sound more than a little like the kettle calling the frying pan black.

I don't intend to disrespect anyone else's opinion, I just want to express another side of the argument.

Farm land prices around here have moved well past $5000 an acre. That's more than 150 to 200 bushel corn or 45 to 60 bushel beans can pay for alone. A growing portion of land sales are to investors rather than active farmers. These investors can pay inflated prices and rent out the ground because the tax benefits more than make up for their losses. In effect they're farming the government rather than the land or any livestock.

In the U.S. the Deartment of Agriculture and the agricultural lobbying industry in this country are huge, on the scale of the banking lobby and defense contractors. This may not help the small farmer much, but U.S. government farm programs are deeply entrenched and are as sacred in this country as any other corpotate welare or entitlement program. The people and businesses supporting the lobbyists are spending alot of money to keep it that way. Some of these efforts have been effective and helpful, some are self serving. It's just a fact of life in this country.

Locally, things are getting tough real fast. In the last month the biggest employer in town just laid off 40% of its work force, just under 1000 people, and the company gave the remaining people a 5% paycut. That's a shock for the community and now even healthy businesses are cutting costs and laying off people to prepare for tough times. Maybe that's bugging me too much and I'm just venting when something hits a nerve.

Thanks for listening.

Hugh,

I don't disagree with you one bit. Mark's posting was obviously written in fun, I liked it, and I'm poking back in fun too. To most people, in the U.S. anyway, farmers (corporate agribusiness) complaining about government programs does sound more than a little like the kettle calling the frying pan black.

I don't intend to disrespect anyone else's opinion, I just want to express another side of the argument.

Farm land prices around here have moved well past $5000 an acre. That's more than 150 to 200 bushel corn or 45 to 60 bushel beans can pay for alone. A growing portion of land sales are to investors rather than active farmers. These investors can pay inflated prices and rent out the ground because the tax benefits more than make up for their losses. In effect they're farming the government rather than the land or any livestock.

In the U.S. the Deartment of Agriculture and the agricultural lobbying industry in this country are huge, on the scale of the banking lobby and defense contractors. This may not help the small farmer much, but U.S. government farm programs are deeply entrenched and are as sacred in this country as any other corpotate welare or entitlement program. The people and businesses supporting the lobbyists are spending alot of money to keep it that way. Some of these efforts have been effective and helpful, some are self serving. It's just a fact of life in this country.

Locally, things are getting tough real fast. In the last month the biggest employer in town just laid off 40% of its work force, just under 1000 people, and the company gave the remaining people a 5% paycut. That's a shock for the community and now even healthy businesses are cutting costs and laying off people to prepare for tough times. Maybe that's bugging me too much and I'm just venting when something hits a nerve.

Thanks for listening.

sws55: I agree with you 100%, corperate welfare bums cost your country and mine billions every year. What would happen if these young farmers renting the corperate speculator's land, said no, we aren't going to rent land. Would they farm it themselves, I think not. I see land fire sales coming, position yourself accordingly.

I would be surprised to see land prices drop by any significant amount. The same speculators can afford to sit on it until the urban sprawl machine is running again.

Don

Louie: Remember the old saying,"THE BIGGER THEY ARE, THE HARDER THEY FALL. They fell in the 1930s and my dad bought good land at $1.00 per acre in tax sales.