Harvesting Cash: Even Foreigners In Saudi Arabia, UK, Hong Kong Get US Farm Subsidies

WASHINGTON - A sports-team owner, a financial-firm executive and residents of Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia were among 2,702 millionaire recipients of farm payments from 2003 to 2006 - and it’s not even clear they were legitimate farmers, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported Monday.

According to the report, the 2,702 recipients exceeded the $2.5 million and got less than 75% of their income from these activities. The payments to them totaled more than $49 million.

GAO investigators offered these examples of likely improper payments:

• A founder and former executive of an insurance company received more than $300,000 in farm-program payments in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 that should have been subject to the income limits.

• An individual with ownership interest in a professional-sports franchise received more than $200,000 for those same years that should have been barred by the income limits.

• A person residing in a country outside of the United States received more than $80,000 for 2003, 2005 and 2006 on the basis of the individual’s ownership interest in two farming entities.

The investigators also found nine recipients resided outside of the United States - in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom, for example.

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Comment by Donald W.

2008-12-02 22:03:24

So, we can just print some more money..there is enough to go around for everyone in every country. Have not you been keeping up with finance lately?

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