Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Say What?

Raisins Drying in the Sun
The other day I was regaling a buddy of mine about my recent trip to the San Joaquin valley, he asked me if I had heard about the "Raisin Reserve". (They grow lots of grapes, used for raisins, in the San Joaquin.)
Under a World War II era program, raisins can be forcibly set aside under the Raisin Marketing Order to help support prices. Other crops have had similar set asides over the years, but nothing has survived like the raisin reserve.*
Well no, I had not heard about it. But now I have. Here.

Seriously? Well, at least the bureaucrat in charge of the Ministry of Raisins was honest about what happens to any surplus -

Any leftover profits are supposed to be distributed back to farmers, though Schulz told The Washington Post, "We pretty well spent it all."*
You can't make this stuff up, no one would believe it.

* From the CNBC article.

5 comments:

  1. So... what I gather from this is if the government sees folks enjoying life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the bureaucrats will step in and find a way to keep it from being a habit.

    I'm thinking maybe the feds hate themselves a little too much.

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  2. I saw a piece on the "Raisin Reserve" on teevee a while back (it might have been on CNBC), wherein some farmer was ranting about the iniquity of the program. My reaction at that time was a simple "WTF?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was my first reaction. Until I read the article at the link.

      What a country...

      Delete

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