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Speaker 1: Fellow conspiracy realist, friends and neighbors, farmers and non farmers alike. Oh, agriculture.

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Speaker 1: Back in twenty twenty March eleventh, I believe we got

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Speaker 1: deep into the idea of subsidies and the idea of

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Speaker 1: agriculture in the United States, and full disclosure, we all

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Speaker 1: thought it would be a little bit of a snoozefest

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Speaker 1: until we got under the hood.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Well, so, if you're from you know, a rural part

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Speaker 3: of this country, or if you who have lived in

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Speaker 3: the Midwest for any time you drive by a lot

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Speaker 3: of farmland, there's a ton of farmland, and it just

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Speaker 3: becomes part of the scenery, right, part of the stuff

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Speaker 3: you drive by every day. If you're not a farmer

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Speaker 3: you're working the land in some way like that, it's

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Speaker 3: just everyday stuff. But then when you actually begin to

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Speaker 3: add why specific crops are some of the most things

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Speaker 3: you see in that farmland, you start to realize, oh,

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Speaker 3: this thing is one giant, interconnected matrix of how the

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Speaker 3: United States functions.

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Speaker 2: A microcosm. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: We also, by the way, now we are we're introducing

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Speaker 1: this in twenty twenty five. Brief message of support to

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Speaker 1: our friends in Utah please know that the powers and

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Speaker 1: control of your state government are siphoning water for alfalfa,

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Speaker 1: of all things. It's it's gonna get it's gonna get

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Speaker 1: wild out there. Shout out to Bookamorman.

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Speaker 3: By the way, Oh fantastic. The version they just came

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Speaker 3: through Atlanta was amazing, just as good as Broadway when

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Speaker 3: I initially saw it. Guys, did you see the amount

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Speaker 3: of water that's being pumped into these these brand new

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Speaker 3: data centers for you know, the biggest new AI servers

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Speaker 3: and all this stuff that are popping up all over

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Speaker 3: the place.

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Speaker 1: Ooh, Nomes has giving us a thumbs down.

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Speaker 2: He agreed.

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Speaker 3: I see your thumbs down, and I agree because the

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Speaker 3: amount of fresh water they're pulling out of aquifers, it's

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Speaker 3: making the wells run dry in these areas. It's it's

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Speaker 3: just it's horrifying.

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Speaker 1: So if we are a nation right anywhere across the

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Speaker 1: human world, and we are following the ideological guidance of Checkers,

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Speaker 1: one must eat, then we oh, okay, I'm judging ab

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Speaker 1: up a little.

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Speaker 3: Okay, we're saying Checkers, the food establishment.

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Speaker 2: Checkers is at the Checkers.

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Speaker 4: Depending on where you are in the States, I think

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Speaker 4: it's rallies somewhere if I'm not mistaken, those like one

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Speaker 4: of this Carls Junior's hearty situations.

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Speaker 1: And this is the surprisingly unboring story of farm subsidies.

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Speaker 5: From yous to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is

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Speaker 5: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or

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Speaker 5: learn the stuff they don't want you to know.

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Speaker 3: A production of iHeartRadio, Welcome back to the show.

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Speaker 2: My name is Matt, my name is Nolan. They called

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Speaker 2: me Ben.

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Speaker 1: We are joined as always with our super producer Paul,

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Speaker 1: Mission Control decand most importantly, you are you. You are here,

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Speaker 1: and that makes this stuff they don't want you to know.

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Speaker 1: This is going to be an interesting episode today, So

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Speaker 1: I want to go ahead and congratulate everyone who did

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Speaker 1: not judge today's episode by the title alone. I think

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Speaker 1: the title of this is actually the surprisingly unboring story

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Speaker 1: of farm subsidies.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it could be interpreted as a snoozefest, but you know,

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Speaker 3: you know, you know this show, there is not a

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Speaker 3: snooze fest amongst.

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Speaker 4: It reminds me of that part in Wayneswelle where he's

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Speaker 4: doing the green screen and he's like, hey, I'm in Delaware,

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Speaker 4: because Delaware seems like the most boring place, but as

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Speaker 4: it turns out, it's an incredible tax haven.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. Secret excitement all around.

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Speaker 1: That's why all of your credit cards and many of

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Speaker 1: your banks are based for some reason in Delaware, Dover,

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Speaker 1: I believe, uh huh yeah, because the laws are different. Now,

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Speaker 1: this topic was not something that the three or four

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Speaker 1: of us came up with on our own, Like many

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Speaker 1: of the best suggestions for this show, this came to

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Speaker 1: us from a listener email from the Raven with a

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Speaker 1: why now the Raven. Maybe I can remove the definitive

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Speaker 1: there and just call you Raven. You sent us this

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Speaker 1: fantastic email. It's it's a little bit long, so we're

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Speaker 1: just gonna read some excerpts, but we're gonna set it up.

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Speaker 1: And uh, I gotta say, my friend, I like the

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Speaker 1: way you write.

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Speaker 3: Oh for sure, especially adding in your own sound effects.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, come on, yeah.

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Speaker 3: Raven says, greetings, gentlemen, I bring you information for a

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Speaker 3: possible episode. The topic may seem boring on the surface,

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Speaker 3: but I feel as though something is a miss I

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Speaker 3: present to you. Farm subsidies submitted for your approval. Dun dun,

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Speaker 3: dund dun. Yes, my friends, farm subsidies. I don't know

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Speaker 3: much about it, but I noticed odd things with a

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Speaker 3: specific company, so there may be other things out there.

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Speaker 2: Here are the facts.

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Speaker 1: First off, there's no such thing as a dumb question,

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Speaker 1: So what the hell is a farm subsidy? Farm subsidies

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Speaker 1: are essentially cash given from a government. The US does

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Speaker 1: this as well as many other countries to support agribusinesses.

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Speaker 1: These can be absolutely life savers because being a farmer

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Speaker 1: is difficult and it's a dicey proposition. Farmers can use

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Speaker 1: the money provided by the government to ride out risk

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Speaker 1: and the potentially enormous losses involved in this unpredictable industry.

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Speaker 1: Like you can't predict the weather all the time, you

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Speaker 1: can't predict how you're going to interact with commodities brokers.

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Speaker 1: You can't predict demand as accurately as people would want.

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Speaker 1: Farm subsidies are a thing that is pretty close to

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Speaker 1: Mission Control's heart, and we did check to make sure

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Speaker 1: it's okay that we said that. But you know us,

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Speaker 1: as we always like to lean on people with personal experience,

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Speaker 1: We like primary sources. So if you hear us pausing

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Speaker 1: when we say something and then quickly correcting ourselves. It

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Speaker 1: may be because Paul gave us the glare of death

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Speaker 1: through the studio window.

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Speaker 3: And look, this is a little known here. This has

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Speaker 3: never happened before. Paul's Mike mission controls. Mike is live

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Speaker 3: right now. So like, if he wanted to, he could

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Speaker 3: say a word, but he's not going to.

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Speaker 1: I'm feeling a sense of foreboding.

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Speaker 3: He said that.

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Speaker 2: I was very excited. He's like this cartoon rabbit.

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Speaker 4: So it was like, if you don't have something nice

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Speaker 4: to say, don't say nothing at all. So Paul is

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Speaker 4: going to chime in if he has something nice aka helpful.

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Speaker 2: Does that correct? Yes.

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Speaker 1: Farm subsidies, though you may have heard them tossed around

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Speaker 1: in a lot of headlines recently, you're going to read

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Speaker 1: language like farm bailout.

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Speaker 3: Yes, that's the one that I've seen the most.

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Speaker 1: So these things have a long, long history here in

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Speaker 1: the US. The Homestead Act in eighteen sixty two granted

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Speaker 1: land in the West to anyone willing to farm. It said,

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Speaker 1: just show up, make food, and you can have the

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Speaker 1: land it grows on. And then in the same year

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Speaker 1: there was something called the Moral actll that was pasted.

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Speaker 1: This funded colleges of agriculture. So Uncle Sam always knew

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Speaker 1: that food was important, and the government intervened multiple times

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Speaker 1: throughout this country's history to assist assist in the creation

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Speaker 1: of farming interest like the Federal Farm Loan Act that

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Speaker 1: would give you pretty generous loans if and only if

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Speaker 1: you are a farmer or starting a farm.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's one of those things. As humans, we need water,

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Speaker 3: we need to be able to breathe, we need shelter,

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Speaker 3: we need love, and we need food. Food is very important,

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Speaker 3: and food production becomes very very important, especially when you're

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Speaker 3: in a time of crisis like of war. Let's say

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Speaker 3: that's why the subsidizing, where the assistance with farming is

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Speaker 3: so essential, because each of us has to eat. So

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Speaker 3: let's jump to nineteen nine.

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Speaker 2: Let's do it.

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Speaker 4: Nineteen twenty nine, in which the Agricultural Marketing Act of

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Speaker 4: nineteen twenty nine it established the Federal Farm Board, which

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Speaker 4: sought to keep crop prices manageable, keep them from absolutely

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Speaker 4: bottoming out, so farmers were The hope was that they

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Speaker 4: would limit crops, but that didn't really take and then

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Speaker 4: the bureau bought and stockpiled these crops in order to,

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Speaker 4: you know, kind of manipulate supply and demand by limiting supply,

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Speaker 4: and then it kind of switched gears and transformed into

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Speaker 4: the Farm Credit Administration in nineteen thirty three.

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Speaker 2: And then in nineteen thirty three, Congress signs what's called

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Speaker 2: the Agricultural Adjustment Actor. AAA. Again, I know we can

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Speaker 2: get the.

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Speaker 1: Weeds here, but this stuff, this will be important later,

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Speaker 1: get to the weird part of this.

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Speaker 2: We'll all be glad that we know this now.

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Speaker 1: Yes, So, this triple A Agricultural Adjustment Act did something

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Speaker 1: very similar to what you were talking about in nineteen

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Speaker 1: twenty nine, reduced crop output.

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Speaker 2: It paid farmers to not do their job.

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Speaker 3: And you think, why on earth would you do that.

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Speaker 3: Don't we need more food? Isn't this whole thing about

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Speaker 3: all of us needing to eat?

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Speaker 5: Right?

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Speaker 1: But you also want people to make a living because

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Speaker 1: if everybody is growing a ton of this example, Paul use,

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Speaker 1: if everybody has a bumper crop and grows a great

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Speaker 1: amount of wheat, then how are they going to be

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Speaker 1: able to sell it? Because the price will plummet And

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Speaker 1: then you're you, as a farmer, are being punished for

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Speaker 1: doing well.

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Speaker 3: So, yeah, you're right, it really is about supply and demand, and.

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Speaker 1: This Triple A, this had some extreme results. Crop prices

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Speaker 1: in general doubled within just four years, and the Supreme

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Speaker 1: Court overturned the Triple A because it was putting taxes

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Speaker 1: on people who processed crops, but it was giving money

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Speaker 1: to farmers. And then they tried to fix it again

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Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty eight, and then when a lot of

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Speaker 1: farms were being foreclosed upon, the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act

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Speaker 1: was a government intervention that gave farms the life saving

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Speaker 1: loans they needed to continue their businesses.

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Speaker 4: So in the same year, in nineteen thirty eight, we've

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Speaker 4: got the New Agricultural Adjustment Act, creatively named because it

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Speaker 4: was like the new one, and that kind of took

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Speaker 4: care of some of the issues that were presented by

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Speaker 4: the nineteen thirty three version. And this price support system

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Speaker 4: as it was referred to, kind of petered out in

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Speaker 4: the nineteen nineties for a long well exactly, yeah, but

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Speaker 4: that's sort of when it had run its course and

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Speaker 4: the federal government was able to pretty astoundingly guarantee farmers

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Speaker 4: a high enough price to stay in business, to actually

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Speaker 4: make a profit for their families. How is this accomplished well.

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Speaker 4: It paid farmers to make sure again manipulating supply and demand,

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Speaker 4: make sure the supply did not exceed the demand. Then

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Speaker 4: the government subsidized farmers to keep crop lands idle so

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Speaker 4: fallow fields, essentially in order to prevent basically waste crop

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Speaker 4: waste overproduction. It also actually bought out any excess crops.

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Speaker 4: It then either stockpiled them or gave them away to

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Speaker 4: lower income families throughout the world. So it had kind

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Speaker 4: of a philanthropic wing to it as well. And then

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Speaker 4: in nineteen ninety nine farm subsidy, it's kind of the

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Speaker 4: year for peak farm subsidies when it reached a record

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Speaker 4: twenty two billion dollars.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 3: Can I bring something up here that we that happened

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Speaker 3: in the nineteen eighties, I think nineteen eighty five. It's

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Speaker 3: something that Paul was talking to us about earlier off

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Speaker 3: Mike called the Conservation Reserve Program. Can we talk about

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Speaker 3: that now quite low Field? Yeah, yeah, exactly, because we

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Speaker 3: kind of just mentioned it there. It's called the Conservation

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Speaker 3: Reserve Program or CRP, and I'm reading this from the

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Speaker 3: FSA dot USDA dot gov. This is a program that

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Speaker 3: in exchange for a yearly rental payment. Farmers enrolled in

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Speaker 3: this program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural

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Speaker 3: production and plant species that will improve the environmental health

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Speaker 3: and quality. So it's these, it's these contracts and not

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Speaker 3: a contract. I guess it's you sign up for this program,

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Speaker 3: then portions of your farmland are just kind of let

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Speaker 3: to go wild basically.

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Speaker 1: Which allows the soil to regenerate. It's probably better for

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Speaker 1: local wildlife, you know, especially herbivores.

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Speaker 2: Amongst the fauna.

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Speaker 1: Then we can see the logic here, even though it

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Speaker 1: sounds maybe a little Joseph Heller esque at first, like

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Speaker 1: what you're paying me not to do something? But it

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Speaker 1: feels many people argue that it is necessary. Of course,

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Speaker 1: not anybody who has ever tried to buy like a

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Speaker 1: dragon fruit or a pomegranate quickly learns or avocados, for

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Speaker 1: God's say, quickly learns that not all crops are subsidized

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Speaker 1: here in the US. Out of all of the crops

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Speaker 1: that farmers grow, there are only five that are subsidized corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton,

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Speaker 1: and rice. And that's because the grains here in this

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Speaker 1: list are the big, big players. If you just took

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Speaker 1: the edible stuff from what we named rice, wheat, soybeans, corn,

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Speaker 1: and you added up, you added up all of those crops,

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Speaker 1: and then you looked at how much food all the

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Speaker 1: people on earth collectively, eight eighty percent of it would

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Speaker 1: be rice, wheat, soybeans, and corn.

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Speaker 3: Think about food processing and how many products exist in

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Speaker 3: grocery stores across the world that are based in one

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Speaker 3: of those or if not multiples.

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Speaker 4: Well not even not only stuff in grocery stores. Think

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Speaker 4: about ethanol that comes from corn. And I don't want

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Speaker 4: to jump the gun. I'm sure we're gonna get into

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Speaker 4: this a little more later, but I believe some of

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Speaker 4: those subsidies went away under the Trump administration. So a

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Speaker 4: lot of farmers are having trouble now because they grew

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Speaker 4: excess corn that they could then sell, you know, to

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Speaker 4: be made into ethanol. And I think because of our

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Speaker 4: moved by this government to more like coal kind of

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Speaker 4: based things and fossil fuels, those subsidies kind of were

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Speaker 4: changed in a negative way that affected some of these farmers.

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Speaker 3: Well yeah, and also across the world. We've talked about

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Speaker 3: this before. Ben those these things that can be produced

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Speaker 3: rather cheaply or you know, somewhat cheaply in more rural places.

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Speaker 3: It's like the reason why it represents that much of

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Speaker 3: the chloric intake is because it's fairly cheap to do,

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Speaker 3: and you can make a lot of it and it

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Speaker 3: can just be the staple in your diet.

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Speaker 2: It can be financially cheap.

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Speaker 1: But for those people who are growing these crops in

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Speaker 1: developing countries, it's incredibly time intensive.

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Speaker 3: Right, oh, yes, exactly, time exactly. And I don't mean

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Speaker 3: to downplay what it takes to to have a functioning

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Speaker 3: rice paddy or something. I just mean overall, if you

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Speaker 3: think about all of the crops that are out there,

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Speaker 3: the things you could be planting, that's why these make

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Speaker 3: up that much of the chloric intake.

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Speaker 1: And that's a huge important point. It's only going to

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Speaker 1: become more profound as we continue. If we look at

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Speaker 1: the states overall the states, in all the US territories,

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Speaker 1: we'll see that there are some clear front runners in

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Speaker 1: the farm subsidy indy, and make no mistake, it is

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Speaker 1: an industry by itself. Those top five states are Texas, Nebraska, Kansas,

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Speaker 1: shout out to Mission Control, Arkansas, and Illinois. In twenty seventeen,

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Speaker 1: according to the EWG Farm Subsidy Database, these five states

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Speaker 1: received thirty eight point five percent of the seven point

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Speaker 1: two billion dollars distributed through these subsidy programs now astute listeners.

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Speaker 1: Though you'll notice that that number is much smaller than

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Speaker 1: the number we we cited earlier. In nineteen ninety nine,

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Speaker 1: farm subsidies were twenty two billion, and now if we

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Speaker 1: go to twenty seventeen, they're down to seven point two billion.

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Speaker 1: So we see a lot of waxing and waning here.

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Speaker 1: It's not a consistent amount of funding.

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Speaker 3: It is odd just with inflation and the way that

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Speaker 3: goes overall, that it would reduce by that much.

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Speaker 1: Right, right, because you know, we can explain that by

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Speaker 1: saying different times. Times are changing, right, and some administrations

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Speaker 1: have different names than others.

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Speaker 2: Absolute and of course it would.

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Speaker 1: Be naive to say that, uh, some of the increases

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Speaker 1: were not somehow pushed by special interest groups. Right, that's

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Speaker 1: just the reality. But what about other What what about

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Speaker 1: other crops? Because those five things aren't everything people grow.

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Speaker 1: They're also peanuts, sorghum, and mohair. These things get smaller subsidies.

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Speaker 2: What is mohair? What is sorghum. Paul, what is mohair?

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Speaker 2: All right? I'm just never heard of it.

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Speaker 4: Mohair is the fabric, that's that, that's what. That's what

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Speaker 4: Benny and the Jets wear electric boots. A mohair suit.

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Speaker 4: You know, I read it in a magazine.

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Speaker 3: Is it a uh?

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Speaker 2: I thought it was a fabric.

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Speaker 4: I used to think he was saying mole hair suit,

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Speaker 4: which would be weird because aren't moles kind of suitless?

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Speaker 2: They're like furless.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, they're suitless.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that goes back to it is interesting because it's

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Speaker 1: like cotton, right, you can't eat it, so why are

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Speaker 1: we subsidizing it? I believe it goes back to maybe

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Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties.

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Speaker 2: It's for goat and sheet producers because they wanted to

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Speaker 2: they wanted.

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Speaker 1: To be able to have the ability to make cheap clothes.

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Speaker 2: That's all clothing and so on.

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Speaker 1: But what about the other things we eat? Because unless

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Speaker 1: you're vegan, you are eating other stuff, right, the stuff

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Speaker 1: other than these grains. You're eating fruits, you're eating vegetables,

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Speaker 1: and if you're an omnivore, you're eating meat. And I

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Speaker 1: know there are several of us in the audience who

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Speaker 1: are like as close to carnivore as you can get. Well,

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Speaker 1: if you're only eating meat, this still does affect you

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Speaker 1: because what do a livestock eat.

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Speaker 2: They eat grains.

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Speaker 1: And the people who create the meat, fruit and vegetables

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Speaker 1: that you eat in your local grocery store or restaurant

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Speaker 1: or your local applebeees. Of course, they only benefit from

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Speaker 1: things like crop insurance or disaster relief, and that still

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Speaker 1: can be a lot of money. Between nineteen ninety five

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Speaker 1: and twenty seventeen, a total of three hundred and sixty

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Speaker 1: nine point seven billion dollars in crop insurance and disaster

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Speaker 1: relief were paid out to someone.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

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Speaker 1: And so that's our lay of the land. Now, if

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Speaker 1: you if you took a survey now of the US,

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Speaker 1: you would find that there are two point one million

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Speaker 1: US farms.

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Speaker 2: Ninety seven percent of.

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Speaker 1: These farms are I'm gonna I'm gonna say it this way,

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Speaker 1: quote unquote family owned. Well, yeah, scare quote they're family owned.

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Speaker 1: But please don't think that's like a small one acre

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Speaker 1: field with someone just growing carrots because they like to.

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Speaker 3: No, I mean, you're talking about hundreds of acres a

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Speaker 3: lot of times. Dozens would probably be common but then

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Speaker 3: thousands of acres is gonna be also very very common.

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Speaker 2: But that didn't just happen overnight.

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Speaker 4: These are generationally held lands that are expanded, you know,

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Speaker 4: and passed down right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we still use phrases relating to that

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Speaker 1: practice in office jobs across the planet. Say don't you know,

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Speaker 1: don't sell the farm, right, or someone's gonna buy the

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Speaker 1: farm or farm it out or farm it out there

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Speaker 1: we go, yes, exactly.

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Speaker 3: The farm is the one thing that can sustain us

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Speaker 3: if everything goes bad.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna send you to the funny farm. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Now I'm thinking of farm as an acronym like free

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Speaker 1: all real Americans. I don't know, I'm working live.

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Speaker 2: This isn't always gonna be all real Americans. America today

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Speaker 2: feels like that book animal Farm.

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Speaker 1: I think, now you might just be naming things with farming,

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Speaker 1: that's true, but but yes, yeah, they do play this

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Speaker 1: vital role.

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Speaker 2: We see it in language.

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Speaker 1: Why are we know why farms are important? Of course,

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Speaker 1: everybody kind of likes eating, that's a trend we can

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Speaker 1: agree on. But why are farm subsidies important? Because they

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Speaker 1: get they get a tough they get a tough run.

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Speaker 1: Occasionally in this country and in others. People will say, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, farm subsidies are symptoms of something called protectionism,

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Speaker 1: but of course they're also necessary, yeah on some level.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, where are you gonna get all the food that

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Speaker 3: your country is going to eat, especially in the United States, Well,

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Speaker 3: you can get it from a bunch of other places.

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Speaker 3: You have it all shipped in if you want to.

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Speaker 3: But that's a little dangerous relying, you know, depending on

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Speaker 3: your percentage of relying on imported foods to feed the

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Speaker 3: majority of the citizenry. So it is very important to

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Speaker 3: have that kind of thing in your not in your pocket,

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Speaker 3: but at in your backyard, yes, exactly, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because otherwise you will be at the mercy of

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Speaker 1: the private entity or the nonprofit or the other tree that.

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Speaker 4: Is feeding you, or just travel and logistics. I mean,

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Speaker 4: you know, so many things can break down in a

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Speaker 4: system like that. Look at what's going on with coronavirus

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Speaker 4: now and how you know that's really affecting trade with other.

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Speaker 3: Countries and shipping and shipping exactly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Sales of face masks are going through the roof, even

398
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,159
Speaker 1: though a lot of people have no idea how to

399
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:20,920
Speaker 1: use them.

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00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,840
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean apparently it's largely not to nag anybody

401
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:27,720
Speaker 4: or if it makes you feel better. But I think

402
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,240
Speaker 4: it's largely like almost like ineffective.

403
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,120
Speaker 1: It's it's not going to work if people aren't already

404
00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:35,480
Speaker 1: practicing basic hygiene.

405
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 2: Right, wash your hand.

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Speaker 1: You guys know everybody listening you probably know the rule,

407
00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:42,080
Speaker 1: but just to say it. If you're worried about contracting

408
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,000
Speaker 1: certain diseases, or if you're in a place where you

409
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,919
Speaker 1: think there might be a lot of nasty bugs around,

410
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,680
Speaker 1: whenever you wash your hands, you just sing in your

411
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Speaker 1: head or out loud, if you have a song in

412
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,160
Speaker 1: your heart, just sing the Happy Birthday song twice. That's

413
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 1: how long you need to wash your hands to actually

414
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Speaker 1: disinfect them with soap and water.

415
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, or you know, memorize like an m One song

416
00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:06,639
Speaker 3: or you know something like that.

417
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:08,919
Speaker 1: And you'll you'll be good to go dead pres Yeah,

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00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:10,640
Speaker 1: maybe way of life with stick Man.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, just do like if you do that, maybe most

420
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Speaker 3: of the song, you're good.

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Speaker 1: So you're up early Matt right to us if you

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Speaker 1: get that reference, Right to us, if you get that reference.

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Speaker 1: So the thing is, you guys are exactly right. Countries

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Speaker 1: have to have to eat and if we don't take

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Speaker 1: proactive steps to ensure that we have some kind of

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Speaker 1: food supply, then everyone will be left to the cruel

427
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Speaker 1: whims of fate. The government has a job when it

428
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,879
Speaker 1: comes to food production to make sure ideally that regardless

429
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,399
Speaker 1: of what's going on with the economy, regardless of what

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Speaker 1: kind of wars are happening domestically or abroad, people are

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Speaker 1: able to eat. And that is why food production occupies

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Speaker 1: a weird spot in the pantheon of domestic businesses. It's

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00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,720
Speaker 1: kind of like, you know, a lot of governments support

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00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:08,080
Speaker 1: or subsidize their aircraft industry because they also need planes.

435
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,640
Speaker 1: Ideally you don't have to be buying those from another country.

436
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:13,800
Speaker 1: So food has to be in some way supported at

437
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:19,919
Speaker 1: least that's the common wisdom so far here in twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: But there are other reasons we need farm subsidies beyond

439
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 1: just the brutal realist geopolitics of it.

440
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:30,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, and this is where you get into things like

441
00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 3: money and how much it costs. And we're going to

442
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,640
Speaker 3: talk about that right after a quick word from our sponsor.

443
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:45,480
Speaker 2: We're back.

444
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 1: So I'm going to be completely transparent here. I lived

445
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 1: a long time, I have farmers in my family, but

446
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:58,359
Speaker 1: I lived a long time without knowing the or even

447
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:06,440
Speaker 1: understanding the commodities trade involved. The commodities trade for farmers

448
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,320
Speaker 1: is essentially an open exchange where people agree on the

449
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,159
Speaker 1: price of a crop. Because we talked about crop prices

450
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,359
Speaker 1: going up or going down, but we never talked about

451
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 1: how they're actually assigned.

452
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:21,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, how does that number get there? It's kind of weird.

453
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:26,640
Speaker 3: So they trade on these things called futures. Now this

454
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 3: isn't too complicated. Think about it this way. Anytime you

455
00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:32,200
Speaker 3: plant something in the ground, it takes a certain amount

456
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 3: of time to then harvest a consumable product.

457
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 4: And so within that you get like this almost like

458
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 4: sock market of its own, kind of where people are

459
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,360
Speaker 4: like placing bets on the success or, like the way

460
00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,280
Speaker 4: a certain crop will behave. And there's obviously conditions that

461
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 4: feed into that weather it's weather or you know, pestilence

462
00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:53,959
Speaker 4: or any kind of conditions that are out of people's control.

463
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,440
Speaker 4: So when you start trading on futures, you're kind of

464
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,880
Speaker 4: trading on the promise of a thing that doesn't exist yet.

465
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:00,600
Speaker 2: Like you know about.

466
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:04,200
Speaker 4: The tulip bubble in the Netherlands where tulip bulbs were

467
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 4: worth so much money, and it created this like supply

468
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:10,679
Speaker 4: that exceeded demand and it just kind of tanked. But

469
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,960
Speaker 4: futures is interesting because you're right, Matt, like they do

470
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:18,440
Speaker 4: it with whiskey too. You buy stock in whiskey barrels

471
00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,920
Speaker 4: that take decades sometimes to age. It's a really interesting

472
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 4: concept of futures. It is a little weird to wrap

473
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:29,800
Speaker 4: your head around, but it also is strangely straightforward. Ben,

474
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:31,359
Speaker 4: is there anything you want to clarify about that?

475
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,480
Speaker 2: I think we hit it. Yeah. Yeah, it's gambling, right, yeah,

476
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:35,200
Speaker 2: it is.

477
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:39,800
Speaker 1: It is gambling, but it's a necessary system because you know,

478
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 1: imagine you plant a crop at a time when you

479
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,120
Speaker 1: saw the crop selling for I'm just making up numbers here,

480
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,680
Speaker 1: saw it selling for five dollars a bushel, and there

481
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,879
Speaker 1: was nothing like a commodity exchange. You couldn't make an

482
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 1: agreement that your crop would when it was time to

483
00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:59,920
Speaker 1: harvest also sell for five dollars a bushel. And with that,

484
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,360
Speaker 1: what happens if you put in all this work and

485
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,360
Speaker 1: now it's only selling for fifty cents a bushel, You know,

486
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:13,119
Speaker 1: it's a gamble that people You could compare it maybe

487
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:18,360
Speaker 1: to a utility bill. Some utility bills will give you

488
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 1: the opportunity to pay your bill on what's called a

489
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,439
Speaker 1: variable rate, right a power bill per therm or something.

490
00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:28,119
Speaker 1: Or you can get a fixed rate for six to

491
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,159
Speaker 1: twelve months, which may be a little higher than you

492
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:34,720
Speaker 1: would want, but is it gives you the advantage of consistency.

493
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:35,879
Speaker 2: So that's what people are looking for.

494
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 3: And you know, one of those ways really screws you

495
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 3: out of money. And I still am not sure which

496
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 3: way is the best or the worst, and I've done

497
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,080
Speaker 3: both in the course of my lifetime. I just want

498
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:49,920
Speaker 3: to put in here so we get to the kind

499
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:51,840
Speaker 3: of connect it up to the next thing. Just that

500
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,840
Speaker 3: concept of betting on what the crop is going to

501
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,040
Speaker 3: be like by the time we get around a harvest time.

502
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 3: That concept that I'm going to lock in this price

503
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 3: with a futures contract of how much bushel is going

504
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:06,520
Speaker 3: to cost or a barrel or whatever it is is

505
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 3: going to cost, and then from that futures contract, I'm

506
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:15,200
Speaker 3: going to take out giant loans for all this stuff

507
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,640
Speaker 3: that it costs for a ton of money that it

508
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:20,760
Speaker 3: costs to actually make this harvest.

509
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so a lot of farmers rely on loans.

510
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,760
Speaker 1: You borrow in the spring and that's when you plant

511
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:31,760
Speaker 1: your seeds, and then you pay your debt in the

512
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:35,720
Speaker 1: fall when you sell your harvest. And that also makes

513
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:37,840
Speaker 1: it feel, you know, like you're gambling.

514
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 2: You're doing a little bit of roll of the dice

515
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 2: in Yolo.

516
00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 1: People could argue, but this also means that if you

517
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 1: have a few years where, for one reason or another

518
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 1: something completely beyond your control, crops were bad, or crops

519
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 1: were good but prices were low, then you are one

520
00:29:55,960 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 1: catastrophe away from possibly going under, you know, getting the farm,

521
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:06,360
Speaker 1: you know, foreclosed upond or having to sell a bunch

522
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: of equipment or something like that. And from the statistics

523
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 1: we saw, many farms can't survive about two years of

524
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,960
Speaker 1: bad luck without going under or getting in serious trouble

525
00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 1: because farms can't move.

526
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 2: It's the thing. You can't pull up your tent steaks.

527
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,760
Speaker 3: Really, I mean, shoot, most of us, I'm just gonna

528
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 3: put myself in this category can't afford two months of

529
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,880
Speaker 3: bad luck in their current financial situation.

530
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 2: Just putting that out there.

531
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 3: So imagine in like being a big business, like a farm,

532
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:40,920
Speaker 3: with all of this.

533
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 2: Based on loans that you have to take out every year. Yikes.

534
00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:46,600
Speaker 2: I get anxiety just thinking about it. Man.

535
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, whenever somebody asked me to predict specific numbers, it

536
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 1: always feels like a trap.

537
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 2: Why else would you ask one to do that?

538
00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:56,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean, you know, it's a whole different podcast,

539
00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:59,000
Speaker 3: but this is one of those things, and one of

540
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 3: the reasons maybe at some point we should explore self

541
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:07,320
Speaker 3: harm in farmers and like you know, suicides and things

542
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:07,720
Speaker 3: like that.

543
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,880
Speaker 4: The pressure is just immense, I mean, to perform and

544
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,600
Speaker 4: so many things like again that we were talking about

545
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,680
Speaker 4: that are out of her control, acts of God, you know,

546
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,400
Speaker 4: crazy weather patterns and storms, and this idea of you know,

547
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:21,520
Speaker 4: climate change maybe or maybe not being a thing. Sure

548
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:23,200
Speaker 4: seems like it's a bit of a thing that has

549
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,200
Speaker 4: a real impact on a lot of people's lives, especially

550
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 4: that industry agreed.

551
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 1: And so we've painted a very broad picture of how

552
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 1: this industry works. And it seems, like you said, well,

553
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 1: it seems pretty easy to understand once you go through

554
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 1: some nuts and bolts on it. But not so fast,

555
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 1: because first it appears that the image of the small

556
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 1: family farm that many people outside of farming communities think

557
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,360
Speaker 1: of is not as accurate as we might imagine.

558
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,120
Speaker 2: We know that it.

559
00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,520
Speaker 1: Was true at some point, but now just to turn

560
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:02,720
Speaker 1: a profit, as you guys said earlier, you have to

561
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: accrete more land volume baby economies scale capitalism, right, the

562
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 1: only ideology that can take a T shirt that says,

563
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 1: you know, screw capitalism and then sell them across the

564
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,880
Speaker 1: planet fifteen dollars a pop. I mean, people get mad,

565
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 1: but that's how the system works. The problem here is

566
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:30,360
Speaker 1: that when it comes to farm subsidies ideologies aside a

567
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,080
Speaker 1: strong body of critics argue that this system has a

568
00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:38,760
Speaker 1: dark side, a dark side that's more expensive than you think.

569
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,000
Speaker 2: Here's where it gets crazy.

570
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:45,880
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's no secret that this system, just

571
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,600
Speaker 4: like many systems, it just isn't perfect. There is an

572
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 4: absolute litany of problems. First, since not all crops are

573
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 4: eligible for subsidies, like we said at the top of

574
00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:01,320
Speaker 4: the show, countries can get into situations where there's a

575
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 4: lack of diversification of crops. Farmers who really need subsidies

576
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:11,040
Speaker 4: might be forced to grow crops that are dictated by

577
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 4: these programs. It affects variety or diversity of agricultural products

578
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:21,840
Speaker 4: in the market, which then ultimately defeats the purpose of

579
00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 4: lowering agricultural imports, because then products that aren't produced locally

580
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,160
Speaker 4: are going to have to be farmed out as it

581
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:32,960
Speaker 4: were elsewhere.

582
00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean think of it. Okay, so think about that.

583
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,920
Speaker 1: We're the government and we're saying, okay, we'll pay you

584
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:45,480
Speaker 1: to give you some to give you a support net, right,

585
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 1: a safety net, rather a support network, a safety net

586
00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 1: while you are growing food for the nation, and we'll

587
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:53,800
Speaker 1: try to make sure that you can make some sort

588
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:56,120
Speaker 1: of living off it, but only if you grow the

589
00:33:56,120 --> 00:34:00,280
Speaker 1: following things. And then someone's like, well, I grow tomatoes.

590
00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:04,480
Speaker 1: Do you guys hate tomato's what's gonna happen? How do

591
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:10,239
Speaker 1: I survives as the tomato guy? And then they naturally say,

592
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:12,759
Speaker 1: and you can't blame people, they say, well, forget tomatoes.

593
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:15,839
Speaker 1: I'm going to grow a different crop that is way

594
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:20,359
Speaker 1: less risky. That means eventually this domino effect occurs and

595
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:24,520
Speaker 1: no one's growing tomatoes, right, and then something happens where

596
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:28,120
Speaker 1: we need tomatoes and we think we should have been

597
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:29,520
Speaker 1: nicer to those other countries.

598
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:31,680
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, they come to me a year ago.

599
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 4: No, it's true, I mean, you really do have to

600
00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:36,640
Speaker 4: you have to chase those subsidies in the same way

601
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:39,440
Speaker 4: like film production, as you know the people, you go

602
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:42,360
Speaker 4: where the money is, you go where the best tax

603
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:45,399
Speaker 4: breaks are. And it's just not even a question like sure,

604
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 4: maybe I love blueberries, it's my favorite fruit. I've always

605
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 4: wanted to be a blueberry farmer. But there just isn't

606
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,120
Speaker 4: that same money for blueberries as there is for corn.

607
00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:56,440
Speaker 2: Yep, and there's not.

608
00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:00,840
Speaker 1: There's not a silver bullet solution for that. Another problem

609
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,920
Speaker 1: is that this leads to discrimination against some farmers.

610
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,399
Speaker 2: Right, that's the thing.

611
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:11,399
Speaker 1: If you insist on growing a non eligible crop, then

612
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,160
Speaker 1: you have a higher chance of failure, and if you

613
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,239
Speaker 1: play ball with the government and grow a subsidized crop,

614
00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:20,319
Speaker 1: you have a higher chance of success. Somebody's putting their

615
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,480
Speaker 1: thumb on the scale. And people who are against government

616
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,720
Speaker 1: intervention just in general, right, people who lean a little

617
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:31,720
Speaker 1: more libertarian would say this, this is not the correct

618
00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,520
Speaker 1: way to address the system. That this becomes big government

619
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,839
Speaker 1: too quickly. And it is a very it's a very

620
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:43,320
Speaker 1: big bet that we're placing the other problem environmental damage.

621
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:47,520
Speaker 1: You want if you are a traditional farming outfit, then

622
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:52,000
Speaker 1: you rotate crops, you plant crop a one season, you

623
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 1: plant crop b another and they kind of interact with

624
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: each other to feed the soil to keep it from

625
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:02,279
Speaker 1: being worthless, because eventually, if you grow the same thing

626
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:05,440
Speaker 1: depending on the crop, then the soil will just not

627
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:08,839
Speaker 1: sustain it. It won't be as nutrient rich because all

628
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,400
Speaker 1: the other identical crops wanted the identical stuff in the dirt,

629
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:14,760
Speaker 1: and there's less of questions to go around.

630
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:16,319
Speaker 2: That makes sense. I never thought of it that way.

631
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,239
Speaker 3: It's really interesting. I only took one very minor gardening

632
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,200
Speaker 3: class at a local place over here, but it was

633
00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:27,560
Speaker 3: really That was the big takeaway for me, was rotating

634
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:30,400
Speaker 3: crops and figuring out how you actually get your soil

635
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:33,560
Speaker 3: to be ready for a certain plant, and then switching

636
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,880
Speaker 3: that out so then the nitrogen gets back in, or

637
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 3: the levels of nitrogen and pH balance and everything gets correct.

638
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:42,080
Speaker 3: It's very I mean, it's fascinating. I never thought about

639
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:44,520
Speaker 3: it before. I thought, oh, here's some dirt, put some

640
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:46,799
Speaker 3: stuff in there, and then it'll grow yay, But you

641
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:50,560
Speaker 3: have to wait. That's why there's agricultural science colleges.

642
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:52,239
Speaker 2: Goodness, say goodness.

643
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:56,480
Speaker 1: And the other aspect here is, of course this is related,

644
00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:58,400
Speaker 1: but it's not a one to one thing is the

645
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 1: enormous use of pesticide, which were later proven to be

646
00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:07,399
Speaker 1: quite dilatorious to anything that wasn't a certain crop, as

647
00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:09,640
Speaker 1: well as animals like people.

648
00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:13,120
Speaker 2: People scoffed at us. I'm going to brag a little bit.

649
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:15,479
Speaker 1: People scoffed at us back in two thousand and nine

650
00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:18,319
Speaker 1: when we said there's solid proof that a class of

651
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:24,120
Speaker 1: pesticides called neo nicotinoids are are directly responsible for the

652
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:28,920
Speaker 1: collapse in domestic bee populations. Yes, and it turns out

653
00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:32,760
Speaker 1: we were right. Well, the scientists who did the research.

654
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:34,560
Speaker 3: Were right, and we just said it into microphone.

655
00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 2: We just listened to that. Hey, but she picked a winner, guys,

656
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:43,400
Speaker 2: good job. Well this is true.

657
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,799
Speaker 1: So at this point you might be saying, wait, how

658
00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 1: does this affect me, Matt Nole, Michigan Control Ben, I'm

659
00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:52,439
Speaker 1: not a farmer. I have nothing against them, but I'm

660
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:55,080
Speaker 1: not a farmer. What does this matter to me other

661
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:58,200
Speaker 1: than you know, I'm paying my tax dollars, right, and

662
00:37:58,239 --> 00:37:59,759
Speaker 1: I don't have a control of where they go.

663
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:03,320
Speaker 2: And I do like rice cakes, and I like rice cakes,

664
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 2: you know.

665
00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:06,560
Speaker 1: And I've always thought of myself as a blueberry farmer,

666
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:07,520
Speaker 1: a tomato guy.

667
00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:08,040
Speaker 2: That's right.

668
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:11,280
Speaker 3: My local Thai restaurant is like one of my favorite spots.

669
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:13,799
Speaker 2: I can see that because now they finally give you

670
00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:15,080
Speaker 2: the appropriate heat.

671
00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,000
Speaker 3: Right yeah, and just really great rice.

672
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 1: This guy's a hard time convincing people and restaurants to

673
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 1: give him the amount of heat or spicyat he tie.

674
00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 3: Places will say you want it tie hot, and they

675
00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:27,319
Speaker 3: look at you really serious, and I go.

676
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:30,759
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean it, can you make it hotter and

677
00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:34,000
Speaker 2: pro Nolan and I have seen that in action. Don't

678
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:36,680
Speaker 2: question me. No, it's true.

679
00:38:36,719 --> 00:38:41,560
Speaker 4: Matt is a spice monger, absolute spice chunkie, spice lord.

680
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:48,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, spice lord. So traveling without moving, traveling without moving.

681
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:52,200
Speaker 1: So it affects you in another way. It's very important.

682
00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:55,480
Speaker 1: Let's walk through it. When people are paid to focus

683
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 1: on certain crops, those crops end up being cheaper, and

684
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:01,399
Speaker 1: when they end up being cheaper, they become a more common.

685
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 2: Part of your diet. It's just easier.

686
00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:07,840
Speaker 1: And that is why grains overall make up one fourth

687
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:12,200
Speaker 1: of the average American diet. Another fourth of it is

688
00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:17,440
Speaker 1: made entirely of oil from corn, soybeans, and canola. Fruits

689
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:22,600
Speaker 1: and vegetables. If you're keeping score, are ten percent, less

690
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:25,919
Speaker 1: than ten percent, and more than six percent of these

691
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:29,959
Speaker 1: farm subsidies go to stuff that your old middle school

692
00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:33,480
Speaker 1: or high school nutrition teacher would have called junk food

693
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:37,680
Speaker 1: corn syrup, high fructus corn syrup, which is in everything.

694
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:41,359
Speaker 2: Isn't that the top part of the food pyramid, guy

695
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:42,080
Speaker 2: supposed to be?

696
00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:46,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, fat oils, Yeah, yeah, it's supposed to be. And

697
00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:50,600
Speaker 1: the food pyramid has its own problems, right, But if

698
00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:53,319
Speaker 1: you are from the US, or if you've ever traveled here,

699
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,880
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've noticed when you read the ingredients of

700
00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:58,839
Speaker 1: stuff that corn is in a lot of things. They

701
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:00,960
Speaker 1: are not even things you would spect.

702
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:03,400
Speaker 3: Right manufacturing products.

703
00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 1: And part of that goes back to the subsidies. So

704
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:11,040
Speaker 1: you could build an argument then that the federal government,

705
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:17,320
Speaker 1: through its food subsidization is contributing to America's obesity problem

706
00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:21,640
Speaker 1: because again, high fructose corn syrups and everything. I'm sure

707
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,120
Speaker 1: our friends Lauren and Annie over on our sister podcast

708
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:29,560
Speaker 1: saveror have an episode about corn syrup, but it is

709
00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 1: it can be bad for you, at least when you're

710
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:35,200
Speaker 1: consuming it at the level that most people do. US

711
00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:39,120
Speaker 1: farm subsidies also block global trade.

712
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:42,279
Speaker 2: This is its own thing. We won't spend too much

713
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:43,359
Speaker 2: time on this, but.

714
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:50,360
Speaker 1: US farm subsidies have an effect beyond the domestic market.

715
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:56,680
Speaker 1: In fact, you can hear multiple voices in developing countries

716
00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:02,520
Speaker 1: arguing against these subsidies in developed countries because if you're

717
00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:05,319
Speaker 1: a farmer in a wealthy country that can pay you

718
00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:08,560
Speaker 1: a guaranteed price or even give you a safety net,

719
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:11,960
Speaker 1: and if things go sideways, then it's much easier for

720
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:14,640
Speaker 1: you to sell stuff than it is if you're the

721
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:18,719
Speaker 1: same kind of farmer in a less developed country whose

722
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:20,640
Speaker 1: government does not give you subsidies.

723
00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:22,360
Speaker 2: So one of the most.

724
00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:28,880
Speaker 1: Well known examples of how these policies can affect farms,

725
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:32,040
Speaker 1: even if they're outside of the country as the subsidies

726
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:37,040
Speaker 1: is the relationship between Haiti and the US involving rice.

727
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:45,120
Speaker 1: So Haiti is developing country. It had the capacity to

728
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:48,160
Speaker 1: produce rice. It does have the capacity, but at one

729
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:50,920
Speaker 1: time it was able to produce all the rice that

730
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:55,720
Speaker 1: needed for its people. However, now that is no longer

731
00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:59,000
Speaker 1: the case. Sixty percent of the food consumed in Haiti

732
00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:05,160
Speaker 1: is hoarded. They lowered tariffs and so they were flooded

733
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:08,760
Speaker 1: with rice that was cheaply produced in the United States

734
00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:13,279
Speaker 1: and was able to outcompete rice farmers in Haiti because

735
00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:17,560
Speaker 1: they didn't have those subsidies, they didn't have a helping

736
00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:21,080
Speaker 1: hand from Uncle Sam Wow. And this meant that the

737
00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:25,960
Speaker 1: domestically produced rice was displaced. So this is a thing

738
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:30,560
Speaker 1: we're removing. That trade barrier led to a very real

739
00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:34,800
Speaker 1: cost for the people of or the farmers of Haiti.

740
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:38,880
Speaker 1: So the people of Haiti were able to get food

741
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:44,560
Speaker 1: at a lower cost, but the rice farmers had, you know,

742
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:49,000
Speaker 1: they got painted into a corner, a courting to Oxfam

743
00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:51,719
Speaker 1: and the IMF. I actually, I want to correct myself here.

744
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:57,480
Speaker 1: I believe now, okay, Haiti is importing sixty percent of

745
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:01,040
Speaker 1: its food overall, but eighty percent of the rice is

746
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:04,600
Speaker 1: imported now, which is crazy because it would have been

747
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:07,560
Speaker 1: if not for this trade stuff, it would have been

748
00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:09,800
Speaker 1: entirely a self sufficient country.

749
00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:12,759
Speaker 3: You know, this is a real issue here, and I

750
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:15,080
Speaker 3: would say a lot of the problems arise because of

751
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:18,799
Speaker 3: the next thing we're going to talk about. When you're

752
00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:21,719
Speaker 3: we've the way you've been talking about this, it makes

753
00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:25,480
Speaker 3: it feel like, Okay, it's a farm, it's a family,

754
00:43:25,520 --> 00:43:29,040
Speaker 3: it's a you know, you know, whatever you want, whatever

755
00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:32,040
Speaker 3: a family looks like to you, it's that just living

756
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:34,600
Speaker 3: on a farm and producing a thing. But as we find,

757
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:40,840
Speaker 3: these subsidies are not necessarily for that type of farming situation.

758
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:43,399
Speaker 1: And we'll get to that after a word from our

759
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:54,359
Speaker 1: sponsor and we're back. There's another problem, and you can

760
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:56,920
Speaker 1: see it in the example that we just gave about

761
00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:01,439
Speaker 1: Haitian rice and the trade deal stuff. That's that's a

762
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:04,960
Speaker 1: whole different backup badgers. The point we're making is that

763
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:09,040
Speaker 1: these subsidies overall throughout the world, in whichever country they occur,

764
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:13,520
Speaker 1: they tend to help high income business, not the poor

765
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:17,000
Speaker 1: rural farmers that so many people think of when they

766
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:20,279
Speaker 1: hear the word fam well, when they hear the term

767
00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:24,040
Speaker 1: family farm. As a matter of fact, the majority of

768
00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:28,480
Speaker 1: this money goes to huge agribusinesses and the numbers are spooky.

769
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:31,719
Speaker 4: So between nineteen ninety five and twenty seventeen, the top

770
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:35,480
Speaker 4: ten percent of recipients got seventy seven percent of the

771
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:39,680
Speaker 4: two hundred and five point four billion that was distributed,

772
00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:43,440
Speaker 4: and that is according to the EWG Farm Subsidy Database.

773
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:46,440
Speaker 4: Then the top one percent received twenty six percent of

774
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:49,880
Speaker 4: the payments, and that kind of averages out to around

775
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:53,960
Speaker 4: one point seven million per company. Fifty people on the

776
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:57,239
Speaker 4: Forbes four hundred lists of the wealthiest human beings in

777
00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,800
Speaker 4: America received farm subsidies. On the other other hand, sixty

778
00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:03,880
Speaker 4: two percent of US farms did not get any.

779
00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:05,600
Speaker 2: And you remember.

780
00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:06,800
Speaker 4: Raven who wrote to us at the top of the

781
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:09,920
Speaker 4: show and include us into this topic. We will let

782
00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:13,640
Speaker 4: this savvy listener sum it up. We've got Rice Lands

783
00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:19,440
Speaker 4: Foods Incorporated at five hundred and fifty four million dollars, producers,

784
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:25,160
Speaker 4: Rice Mill Incorporated, three hundred and fourteen million dollars, farmers,

785
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:28,960
Speaker 4: Rice co Op one hundred and forty six million dollars,

786
00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:34,960
Speaker 4: Number four only forty eight million received, and it trickles

787
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:35,759
Speaker 4: down from there.

788
00:45:36,520 --> 00:45:38,720
Speaker 2: It's a pretty big discription. It's a big old dip,

789
00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:41,719
Speaker 2: in't it. So what's what's the deal?

790
00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:43,720
Speaker 3: Well, the one thing you'll notice is that it's all

791
00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:44,600
Speaker 3: rice produces.

792
00:45:44,680 --> 00:45:49,680
Speaker 4: Well sure, very uncreatively named corporations, if I might add.

793
00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:53,720
Speaker 1: And it's a precipitous dip from one rank to the next,

794
00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:56,000
Speaker 1: from five point fifty four all the way down to

795
00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:59,240
Speaker 1: three fourteen and then number four only forty eight million.

796
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:02,839
Speaker 1: I say, only forty eight million, right. I don't think

797
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:05,359
Speaker 1: any of us have been in a situation where we said, well,

798
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:08,360
Speaker 1: you know, it's only forty eight million, it's not like fifty.

799
00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:12,680
Speaker 1: He can still go to Dave and Busters later. Sorry,

800
00:46:12,719 --> 00:46:14,880
Speaker 1: it's my dream to be at a Dave and Busters

801
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:16,440
Speaker 1: with an ungodly amount of money.

802
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:21,120
Speaker 2: I wouldn't you rather have Dave and Busters tickets? I

803
00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:21,560
Speaker 2: guess so?

804
00:46:21,840 --> 00:46:22,120
Speaker 5: Yeah?

805
00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:24,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would want to participate.

806
00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:25,520
Speaker 4: In their currency, right, They won't take your money there,

807
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:27,280
Speaker 4: David Busters only tickets.

808
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:30,080
Speaker 1: I don't know why casinos bother me, but I love

809
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:32,640
Speaker 1: Dave and Busters. It's kind of the same thing, but

810
00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:33,880
Speaker 1: for kids, right, well.

811
00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:35,600
Speaker 4: See, yeah, I mean it's half for it's really for

812
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:38,600
Speaker 4: drunk adults kind of more than anything.

813
00:46:38,719 --> 00:46:41,000
Speaker 2: Okay, well I haven't been. I haven't been in a

814
00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:41,440
Speaker 2: long time.

815
00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:43,239
Speaker 4: Oh I thought you'd never been. It's about to be

816
00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:45,200
Speaker 4: very sad for you talk about it so much. Yeah,

817
00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:46,680
Speaker 4: I love the idea of it.

818
00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:48,480
Speaker 2: At least, when are we going to go? Let's we

819
00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:51,280
Speaker 2: should go? That's our show, folks.

820
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:52,960
Speaker 3: You guys want to go to chuck e Cheese with

821
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:54,080
Speaker 3: me and my kid?

822
00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:57,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you have to have a kid. Yeah, It's

823
00:46:57,120 --> 00:47:00,440
Speaker 2: like a playground at a public park, right, yes, if

824
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:01,359
Speaker 2: you don't have a kid there.

825
00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:03,440
Speaker 4: Not to divert too much from the topic a hand,

826
00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:05,279
Speaker 4: but did you guys know maybe I haven't missed this before.

827
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:07,600
Speaker 4: They have this crazy system where when you go in

828
00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:10,640
Speaker 4: you get an invisible ink stamp on your hand and

829
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:12,719
Speaker 4: on your kid's hand, and they have to match, and

830
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:15,120
Speaker 4: they like shine a light on you before you leave

831
00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:17,320
Speaker 4: to make sure you're not like running off with someone

832
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:17,879
Speaker 4: else's kid.

833
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:21,359
Speaker 2: Good, pretty clever. I can doone this system. Yeah, yeah,

834
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:23,799
Speaker 2: I'll I mean, I'll go. I'll go with you, Matt

835
00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:27,680
Speaker 2: if it. Yeah. Yeah. Do they have ski ball? They do?

836
00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:33,040
Speaker 1: They have laser tag. No, I'll still go, but I

837
00:47:33,040 --> 00:47:33,840
Speaker 1: won't stay along.

838
00:47:34,239 --> 00:47:39,400
Speaker 3: They have this Yoshi's Haunted Mansion game that is pretty awesome.

839
00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:40,040
Speaker 2: I'm in.

840
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:43,560
Speaker 1: I'm in, assuming this whole thing doesn't burn down before

841
00:47:43,640 --> 00:47:44,600
Speaker 1: we get a chance to go.

842
00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:45,840
Speaker 2: Raven.

843
00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:50,399
Speaker 1: You also noted the possibility of another conspiracy, and we'll

844
00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:54,840
Speaker 1: quote from your letter here. You said the bigger payouts

845
00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:58,840
Speaker 1: were substantially higher than all other years, and they happened

846
00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:02,439
Speaker 1: at the same time nineteen ninety nine, two thousand, two

847
00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:05,680
Speaker 1: thousand and one, two thousand and two. Now, remember we

848
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:08,640
Speaker 1: had that statistic that you quoted at the top thereinal

849
00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:11,600
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety nine. The subsidies were huge. They were

850
00:48:11,600 --> 00:48:15,919
Speaker 1: twenty two billion dollars. But Raven says, I don't see

851
00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:19,640
Speaker 1: a record of a natural disaster or anything that could

852
00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:24,440
Speaker 1: warrant the need for so much assistance. Raven continues and says,

853
00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:27,799
Speaker 1: for a company like Riceland Foods that boast almost a

854
00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:30,480
Speaker 1: million dollars a year in revenue, why would they need

855
00:48:30,520 --> 00:48:33,239
Speaker 1: so much in subsidies? And why are the top three

856
00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:37,800
Speaker 1: also rice? Riceland Foods and producers Rice mill are both

857
00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:41,560
Speaker 1: also based in Stuttgart, Arkansas. That's a place with less

858
00:48:41,560 --> 00:48:45,279
Speaker 1: than nine thousand people. And so this leads Raven to conclude,

859
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:48,160
Speaker 1: what the US just pays them to exist. Plus they

860
00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:50,640
Speaker 1: get insurance so if they lose money, they can file

861
00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:54,440
Speaker 1: insurance claim. You can't tell me, says Raven. There's no

862
00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:59,200
Speaker 1: conspiracy here. So I have to ask you guys, you know,

863
00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:02,839
Speaker 1: is it possible that this is corruption? Is this what

864
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:07,680
Speaker 1: is it pork barrel politics? Is somebody pocketing these millions

865
00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:11,400
Speaker 1: of dollars? I mean, these are corporations, so I'm sure

866
00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:15,840
Speaker 1: that the executive suites, are you know, getting their vague

867
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:19,880
Speaker 1: in the form of bonuses or performance compensation or something.

868
00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:23,040
Speaker 3: I would say, it just feels a bit odd because

869
00:49:23,040 --> 00:49:28,080
Speaker 3: you know, they need that money to stay in business.

870
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:32,880
Speaker 3: It does feel weird that the companies wouldn't attempt to

871
00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:36,440
Speaker 3: like pivot to maybe something else. It wouldn't require that

872
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:39,680
Speaker 3: level of like I think it was fifty five percent

873
00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:43,680
Speaker 3: of the profits coming from or fifty five percent of

874
00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:47,720
Speaker 3: their income coming from government subsidies. It seems like you

875
00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:51,319
Speaker 3: you'd have to switch and start doing something else, just

876
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:54,080
Speaker 3: knowing that if you end up losing those subsidies, depending

877
00:49:54,120 --> 00:49:56,279
Speaker 3: on who's in office and the way, you know, the

878
00:49:56,320 --> 00:50:01,680
Speaker 3: wins of change from whatever government become you know, whatever.

879
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:03,200
Speaker 2: As to witch crops become priority.

880
00:50:03,239 --> 00:50:06,279
Speaker 3: You mean, like as to whether or not those subsidies continue,

881
00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:09,280
Speaker 3: because they may not, because there's a big debate now

882
00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:12,879
Speaker 3: about a lot of times it's portrayed as in one hand,

883
00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:16,439
Speaker 3: you have subsidizing crops and farms. In the other hand,

884
00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:21,319
Speaker 3: you have snap and you know, helping those who are

885
00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:26,959
Speaker 3: in need, right, Like, yeah, food stams are just food

886
00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:31,200
Speaker 3: assistants product. Yeah, So in a lot of times it's

887
00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:34,720
Speaker 3: not those those two things aren't necessarily connected, but maybe

888
00:50:34,719 --> 00:50:38,280
Speaker 3: it's just they appear to be connected in people's minds,

889
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:42,919
Speaker 3: and lately they've been tied together in like taking money

890
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:48,320
Speaker 3: away from food assistants and adding money to subsidizing farms.

891
00:50:48,040 --> 00:50:53,120
Speaker 1: The idea being that those two things are so inextricably

892
00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:56,520
Speaker 1: intertwined that you're kind of putting money in the same

893
00:50:56,560 --> 00:50:59,800
Speaker 1: place in a weird but that's see, I wouldn't you

894
00:50:59,840 --> 00:51:01,320
Speaker 1: say it's somewhat disingenuous.

895
00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:04,040
Speaker 3: I think it's very disingenuous because you what you could

896
00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:09,120
Speaker 3: be doing is all of those over you know, creating

897
00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:12,680
Speaker 3: too much supply, and all of these things being paid

898
00:51:12,719 --> 00:51:13,880
Speaker 3: not to create food.

899
00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:15,399
Speaker 2: Why would you just not.

900
00:51:15,480 --> 00:51:20,520
Speaker 3: Have specialized processors like farmers and processors to make specialized

901
00:51:20,520 --> 00:51:24,080
Speaker 3: foods that are then specifically for those programs that are

902
00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:27,360
Speaker 3: just then free I then paid for with the subsidy itself.

903
00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:31,320
Speaker 1: Well, ultimately the bill comes due, you know, someone gets

904
00:51:31,440 --> 00:51:34,200
Speaker 1: left holding the end voice at the end of the day.

905
00:51:34,760 --> 00:51:37,760
Speaker 1: But it is a good question because governments also try

906
00:51:37,800 --> 00:51:40,600
Speaker 1: to get in front of this, for lack of a

907
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:45,239
Speaker 1: better corporate term, by buying up those excess crops and

908
00:51:45,360 --> 00:51:47,880
Speaker 1: saving them for a rainy day or saving them for

909
00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:53,239
Speaker 1: people who need assistance. But also, you know, it is

910
00:51:53,280 --> 00:52:01,280
Speaker 1: not disingenuous to argue that SNAP and agricultural subsidies are related, because.

911
00:52:00,920 --> 00:52:04,279
Speaker 2: If the government is paying for.

912
00:52:06,200 --> 00:52:10,480
Speaker 1: Food assistance of some sort, then it wants the lowest price, right.

913
00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:14,560
Speaker 1: And it's strange because you can see how there might

914
00:52:14,600 --> 00:52:18,359
Speaker 1: be a conflict of interest there at some point, if

915
00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:22,600
Speaker 1: you put too much money into subsidizing farms, maybe it

916
00:52:22,640 --> 00:52:26,480
Speaker 1: affects the price of food that the government pays for

917
00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:30,359
Speaker 1: under SNAP in a way that they didn't anticipate or

918
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:34,320
Speaker 1: in a way that they do not find favorable. So

919
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:36,520
Speaker 1: sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's

920
00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:39,680
Speaker 1: doing here. And that's not saying that anybody's necessarily a

921
00:52:39,719 --> 00:52:43,000
Speaker 1: bad actor. That's just saying that this is a complex system,

922
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:45,880
Speaker 1: a lot of moving parts, a lot of stakeholders, and

923
00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:49,240
Speaker 1: a lot of people with goals that contradict one another.

924
00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:52,200
Speaker 1: So of course they're going to butt heads. But one

925
00:52:52,239 --> 00:52:55,960
Speaker 1: thing is for sure, Raven, there is a lot of

926
00:52:56,000 --> 00:52:59,440
Speaker 1: money in play here, and money tends to make people,

927
00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:04,719
Speaker 1: if not terrible, a little less worried about ethics in general.

928
00:53:05,640 --> 00:53:09,399
Speaker 1: Related episode, for anyone who hasn't heard it, check out

929
00:53:09,880 --> 00:53:12,800
Speaker 1: check out the podcast that Matt Nolan and I did

930
00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:18,120
Speaker 1: on whether wealth makes you a bad person. Yeah, the

931
00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:21,360
Speaker 1: studies are fairly conclusive and terrified.

932
00:53:22,040 --> 00:53:22,320
Speaker 2: Yike.

933
00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:26,840
Speaker 1: True, Like you're literally more likely to take candy from children.

934
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:30,080
Speaker 1: Someone did that study and I think replicated it.

935
00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:32,680
Speaker 2: Money can't buy happiness, but it sure can make you

936
00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:35,160
Speaker 2: an a soul. There we go, There we go.

937
00:53:35,239 --> 00:53:38,440
Speaker 1: I want that crocheted and hanging up somewhere.

938
00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:40,920
Speaker 2: You know, one of those little circle frames.

939
00:53:40,960 --> 00:53:44,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Yeah, I want to carry that as

940
00:53:44,080 --> 00:53:47,359
Speaker 1: a placard around and replace all the live, laugh, love

941
00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:49,160
Speaker 1: signs I see with that.

942
00:53:49,239 --> 00:53:49,840
Speaker 2: I can't do that.

943
00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:52,680
Speaker 1: You can't replace other people's signs. It's up to them,

944
00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:55,320
Speaker 1: you know, if they want to live, they want to laugh. Wow,

945
00:53:55,440 --> 00:53:56,440
Speaker 1: I sound like a monster.

946
00:53:56,640 --> 00:54:00,360
Speaker 3: Hey, I want to bring something up. Monster, Not sure, No,

947
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:02,400
Speaker 3: I want to bring this up. There's something I was

948
00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:06,080
Speaker 3: reading earlier today about finding ways to get more money

949
00:54:06,120 --> 00:54:10,600
Speaker 3: out of these farm subsidies, and it was and correct

950
00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:14,280
Speaker 3: me if I'm wrong, Ben Paul Noll or you listening

951
00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:17,600
Speaker 3: out there. I believe the amount of money you can

952
00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:21,880
Speaker 3: get in this subsidy for farming was eighty thousand dollars

953
00:54:21,920 --> 00:54:26,759
Speaker 3: per individual. Then you could go into like a co

954
00:54:26,840 --> 00:54:28,080
Speaker 3: op or into a.

955
00:54:29,600 --> 00:54:32,800
Speaker 2: Create a group or company. Then that has.

956
00:54:34,120 --> 00:54:36,040
Speaker 3: A group of individuals, and then each one of them

957
00:54:36,040 --> 00:54:38,080
Speaker 3: could get eighty thousand, and then that co op can

958
00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:40,839
Speaker 3: get a you know, a much larger sum in subsidies

959
00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:43,200
Speaker 3: from the government. Then you can use that for a

960
00:54:43,320 --> 00:54:48,000
Speaker 3: larger farming operation essentially. And I don't know exactly what

961
00:54:48,040 --> 00:54:49,600
Speaker 3: the limits are for any of that stuff, but it

962
00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:52,920
Speaker 3: does seem as though you could exploit the system in

963
00:54:52,960 --> 00:54:54,799
Speaker 3: a couple of ways just by teaming up.

964
00:54:55,040 --> 00:54:55,680
Speaker 2: Is that do we know?

965
00:54:55,719 --> 00:54:56,480
Speaker 3: If that's correct?

966
00:54:57,239 --> 00:55:02,040
Speaker 1: It's they're definitely they're dea point loopholes that are in play.

967
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:03,839
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the only way that.

968
00:55:05,719 --> 00:55:09,279
Speaker 1: Only one hundred thousand individuals could collect seventy percent of

969
00:55:09,320 --> 00:55:10,640
Speaker 1: the money at play here.

970
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:14,399
Speaker 3: So then I just wonder what the we're We aren't

971
00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:17,719
Speaker 3: able to really explore the full numbers here, but how

972
00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:21,239
Speaker 3: that is affected when you, let's say you build those

973
00:55:21,320 --> 00:55:25,960
Speaker 3: numbers up and you have a large enough operation that

974
00:55:26,080 --> 00:55:29,720
Speaker 3: you do get into the you know, five hundred million

975
00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:37,120
Speaker 3: dollars subsidy range. That's that's pretty astonishing, And I wonder

976
00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:39,920
Speaker 3: at what point that five hundred and fifty four million

977
00:55:39,960 --> 00:55:44,080
Speaker 3: dollars is actually sustaining and making like generating real wealth

978
00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:46,759
Speaker 3: for the individuals involved. As we were talking about, like

979
00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:50,560
Speaker 3: I wonder how wealthy actually some of the people running

980
00:55:50,600 --> 00:55:52,680
Speaker 3: those large companies are.

981
00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:57,000
Speaker 1: Right, because you've heard the phrase land rich, cash poor. Yeah,

982
00:55:57,040 --> 00:56:00,800
Speaker 1: there can be people like through a variety of different

983
00:56:00,840 --> 00:56:04,879
Speaker 1: financial instruments, you can you can appear to be much

984
00:56:05,640 --> 00:56:07,799
Speaker 1: you can appear to have much less or much more

985
00:56:07,880 --> 00:56:10,839
Speaker 1: money than you actually possess, you know what I mean,

986
00:56:10,960 --> 00:56:14,200
Speaker 1: especially when you're leveraging loans, leveraging.

987
00:56:13,800 --> 00:56:15,880
Speaker 2: Futures, speculation gets involved.

988
00:56:17,160 --> 00:56:19,960
Speaker 1: It's true, there is a lot of money at play,

989
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:22,920
Speaker 1: and there are many opportunities to game the system. That

990
00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:26,120
Speaker 1: is not the same thing as saying that people are

991
00:56:26,320 --> 00:56:29,640
Speaker 1: thieving or doing that. You know that they're purposely doing that,

992
00:56:29,960 --> 00:56:33,319
Speaker 1: just saying the opportunity is there. We do know that

993
00:56:33,360 --> 00:56:36,600
Speaker 1: the farm subsey program, at least the modern version of it,

994
00:56:36,680 --> 00:56:39,920
Speaker 1: has occupied a special place in the halls of Congress

995
00:56:40,239 --> 00:56:43,799
Speaker 1: and in the halls of various presidential administrations. Like you

996
00:56:43,840 --> 00:56:48,880
Speaker 1: guys remember the auto industry bailout right or the bank bailout.

997
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:54,920
Speaker 1: People were up in arms, torches, pitchforks, you know, both

998
00:56:54,920 --> 00:56:58,320
Speaker 1: sides of Congress had had some angry words to say

999
00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:03,200
Speaker 1: and was hotly debated, but the USDA created the new

1000
00:57:03,239 --> 00:57:07,680
Speaker 1: farm subsidy program just like out of thin air. Congress

1001
00:57:07,719 --> 00:57:12,040
Speaker 1: didn't really have anything to say about it. And we

1002
00:57:12,080 --> 00:57:16,160
Speaker 1: know that if we look at the state of subsidies today,

1003
00:57:16,040 --> 00:57:19,440
Speaker 1: they're going to continue. In twenty nineteen, the federal government

1004
00:57:19,560 --> 00:57:25,720
Speaker 1: delivered the biggest aid package it had delivered in fourteen years.

1005
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:32,560
Speaker 1: You know, the price of farm subsidies has spiked. These

1006
00:57:32,600 --> 00:57:34,880
Speaker 1: subsidies aren't going to go away. It may wax and

1007
00:57:35,000 --> 00:57:37,880
Speaker 1: wane in terms of the total money paid out by

1008
00:57:38,240 --> 00:57:41,440
Speaker 1: the government and hence the taxpayer. And the question is

1009
00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:44,640
Speaker 1: should they go away? Because we know that there's growing

1010
00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:49,160
Speaker 1: instability in the global climate, and we know that that

1011
00:57:49,240 --> 00:57:52,720
Speaker 1: means even just that alone means that further government intervention

1012
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:57,880
Speaker 1: is probably in the cards. Even people who would otherwise say,

1013
00:57:58,440 --> 00:58:03,240
Speaker 1: you know, no big government whatsoever, even those people will

1014
00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:06,240
Speaker 1: will sometimes make an exception and come out in defense

1015
00:58:06,400 --> 00:58:10,960
Speaker 1: of things like, you know, the military, right, or the

1016
00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:15,320
Speaker 1: agricultural industry, especially if they're involved in the farming industry

1017
00:58:15,560 --> 00:58:20,040
Speaker 1: and are otherwise solidly libertarian. I'll say this is different

1018
00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:23,400
Speaker 1: because everybody needs to eat. Now, what do you think

1019
00:58:23,400 --> 00:58:26,440
Speaker 1: about this, folks? What are farm subsidies? Are they an

1020
00:58:26,440 --> 00:58:31,040
Speaker 1: economic necessity? Are they an opportunity for a quagmire of

1021
00:58:31,280 --> 00:58:34,160
Speaker 1: large scale, billion dollar level corruption?

1022
00:58:34,440 --> 00:58:38,440
Speaker 3: Are they a fun combo right? Like a number two.

1023
00:58:40,520 --> 00:58:41,080
Speaker 2: The Yeah?

1024
00:58:41,280 --> 00:58:43,680
Speaker 1: It is it a necessity in corruption? With a side

1025
00:58:43,680 --> 00:58:46,120
Speaker 1: of fries in sour gum.

1026
00:58:47,280 --> 00:58:50,280
Speaker 3: And what is it mohair and mohair mohair.

1027
00:58:50,000 --> 00:58:54,160
Speaker 2: Container just sprinkled on top. Yeah, you don't like a

1028
00:58:54,160 --> 00:58:57,440
Speaker 2: little hair on your burger? No? No, I feel like

1029
00:58:57,480 --> 00:58:59,280
Speaker 2: that's not a hot take. I don't think so either.

1030
00:58:59,440 --> 00:59:01,480
Speaker 1: What if we get so many emails from people who

1031
00:59:01,480 --> 00:59:04,520
Speaker 1: are like, I can't believe you guys eat on Harry burgers.

1032
00:59:05,040 --> 00:59:06,640
Speaker 4: You ever got a hair stuck in your throat and

1033
00:59:06,640 --> 00:59:08,240
Speaker 4: you pull it out and it just doesn't stop?

1034
00:59:08,800 --> 00:59:12,760
Speaker 2: No long hair like a gross stage magician, just like

1035
00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:16,960
Speaker 2: the like the ring. Yeah, never had that man? You Nope,

1036
00:59:18,320 --> 00:59:23,320
Speaker 2: me neither. Okay, good. I was worried for a second.

1037
00:59:24,640 --> 00:59:26,320
Speaker 1: But but we do want to We do want to

1038
00:59:26,400 --> 00:59:28,840
Speaker 1: hear from you because this is this is a very

1039
00:59:28,880 --> 00:59:29,640
Speaker 1: serious topic.

1040
00:59:29,960 --> 00:59:31,600
Speaker 2: There's a lot of money on.

1041
00:59:31,520 --> 00:59:34,720
Speaker 1: The table and one of the one of the biggest

1042
00:59:34,760 --> 00:59:37,960
Speaker 1: points we have to make before we end the episode.

1043
00:59:37,520 --> 00:59:38,760
Speaker 2: Today is this.

1044
00:59:39,920 --> 00:59:44,880
Speaker 1: Obviously, this weird arrangement has has a lot of imperfections.

1045
00:59:45,040 --> 00:59:49,960
Speaker 1: Obviously there's plenty of room for conspiracy and corruption and later.

1046
00:59:49,760 --> 00:59:50,960
Speaker 2: Cover ups, but.

1047
00:59:52,440 --> 00:59:55,160
Speaker 1: That should not be taken in any way to be

1048
00:59:55,200 --> 01:00:00,360
Speaker 1: an allegation against all farmers. Farmers throughout American history and

1049
01:00:00,440 --> 01:00:03,520
Speaker 1: in the modern day are some of the hardest working

1050
01:00:03,680 --> 01:00:05,560
Speaker 1: individuals in this country.

1051
01:00:05,760 --> 01:00:06,400
Speaker 2: Full stop.

1052
01:00:06,840 --> 01:00:09,400
Speaker 3: There you go, that's exactly what I would say. Paul,

1053
01:00:09,480 --> 01:00:12,280
Speaker 3: Do you wanna give shout outs to any farmers out

1054
01:00:12,280 --> 01:00:16,760
Speaker 3: there they've been listening to the show, he says. Paul says,

1055
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:22,320
Speaker 3: I send you my admiration and love, and oh he's

1056
01:00:22,360 --> 01:00:25,320
Speaker 3: given me his phone number. Okay, uh oh no, he

1057
01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:27,400
Speaker 3: says he's going to retract that, but he does send

1058
01:00:27,400 --> 01:00:27,960
Speaker 3: his admiration.

1059
01:00:28,080 --> 01:00:31,640
Speaker 4: So we in the room here only get his contempt

1060
01:00:31,800 --> 01:00:32,880
Speaker 4: and icy stares.

1061
01:00:35,440 --> 01:00:38,800
Speaker 1: But but you know, it's a he's a tough love producer.

1062
01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:42,040
Speaker 2: You gotta respect the guy. It's true. So it's all

1063
01:00:42,040 --> 01:00:45,800
Speaker 2: about the chase with Paul. So he is gonna kill us.

1064
01:00:46,040 --> 01:00:50,120
Speaker 1: So, as always, we want to thank you for tuning in.

1065
01:00:50,200 --> 01:00:52,720
Speaker 1: We want to hear from you. You can find us

1066
01:00:52,840 --> 01:00:56,320
Speaker 1: any number of ways. Because this concludes our episode, but

1067
01:00:56,480 --> 01:00:59,439
Speaker 1: not our show. Some of the best parts of our

1068
01:00:59,520 --> 01:01:03,320
Speaker 1: episode are the parts that you generate in conversation with

1069
01:01:03,640 --> 01:01:04,920
Speaker 1: our fellow listeners.

1070
01:01:05,120 --> 01:01:05,600
Speaker 2: Online.

1071
01:01:05,640 --> 01:01:07,120
Speaker 1: You can find us on Facebook, you can find us

1072
01:01:07,160 --> 01:01:09,440
Speaker 1: on Twitter, you can find us on Instagram. We love

1073
01:01:09,480 --> 01:01:13,280
Speaker 1: to recommend our community page. Here's where it gets crazy.

1074
01:01:13,520 --> 01:01:16,040
Speaker 3: If you don't want to do that, but you should.

1075
01:01:16,280 --> 01:01:18,040
Speaker 3: But if you don't want to, you can give us

1076
01:01:18,080 --> 01:01:23,360
Speaker 3: a call. Our number is one eight three three std WYTK.

1077
01:01:24,000 --> 01:01:26,000
Speaker 3: Leave us a message, tell us what you're thinking. We

1078
01:01:26,080 --> 01:01:28,640
Speaker 3: look forward to talking to you and or at least

1079
01:01:28,640 --> 01:01:30,720
Speaker 3: hearing from you, and then maybe you'll get a callback.

1080
01:01:30,720 --> 01:01:34,800
Speaker 3: Who knows if you If you feel like this whole

1081
01:01:34,840 --> 01:01:37,640
Speaker 3: episode was just a giant tease to hear Paul's voice

1082
01:01:37,680 --> 01:01:40,320
Speaker 3: and you didn't get it, head on over to movie Crush.

1083
01:01:40,440 --> 01:01:41,360
Speaker 2: You can find him.

1084
01:01:41,360 --> 01:01:44,600
Speaker 3: You search up his name, Paul Decant search it on

1085
01:01:44,640 --> 01:01:48,640
Speaker 3: the internet if you want to track him down. Don't, don't,

1086
01:01:48,680 --> 01:01:52,040
Speaker 3: you know, not like in a creepy or ely super

1087
01:01:52,080 --> 01:01:52,760
Speaker 3: creepy way.

1088
01:01:53,440 --> 01:01:54,480
Speaker 2: Said Threading.

1089
01:01:55,000 --> 01:01:57,480
Speaker 3: Just do it in a standard creepy way, you know,

1090
01:01:57,760 --> 01:02:00,400
Speaker 3: waiting outside, staring up at his window in the it's

1091
01:02:00,400 --> 01:02:00,960
Speaker 3: all good.

1092
01:02:00,800 --> 01:02:03,440
Speaker 4: Holding up a giant jukebox playing in your eyes by

1093
01:02:03,680 --> 01:02:05,040
Speaker 4: Peter Gabriel, or you.

1094
01:02:05,000 --> 01:02:08,080
Speaker 3: Know, whatever your choice of music, just make it happen.

1095
01:02:08,160 --> 01:02:10,560
Speaker 3: I would say, Casey Musgrove is probably a good, good call.

1096
01:02:12,440 --> 01:02:14,680
Speaker 3: It's a weird plug for that I have, and I

1097
01:02:14,720 --> 01:02:15,240
Speaker 3: would say that.

1098
01:02:15,400 --> 01:02:19,040
Speaker 1: Or if you know, if you have, if you have

1099
01:02:19,160 --> 01:02:23,200
Speaker 1: input here, and especially if you have personal experience with

1100
01:02:23,280 --> 01:02:26,800
Speaker 1: farm subsidies, yes, and you have seen you know, allegations

1101
01:02:26,800 --> 01:02:30,640
Speaker 1: of corruption, or you have seen the system work beautifully.

1102
01:02:30,680 --> 01:02:31,880
Speaker 2: We want to hear from you.

1103
01:02:32,280 --> 01:02:34,800
Speaker 1: If you're one of those people and you say I

1104
01:02:35,160 --> 01:02:36,000
Speaker 1: have something to say.

1105
01:02:36,160 --> 01:02:37,240
Speaker 2: If I hate the Internet.

1106
01:02:37,400 --> 01:02:40,320
Speaker 1: I remember your Facebook episode from a few years ago.

1107
01:02:40,680 --> 01:02:41,240
Speaker 2: We do too.

1108
01:02:41,320 --> 01:02:45,720
Speaker 1: We do too, And I, like many people, hate using phones.

1109
01:02:46,560 --> 01:02:49,320
Speaker 1: But I want to contact you somehow while you are

1110
01:02:49,400 --> 01:02:51,920
Speaker 1: in luck, friends and neighbors. We have one more way

1111
01:02:51,960 --> 01:02:53,800
Speaker 1: to contact us. You can send us a good old

1112
01:02:53,800 --> 01:02:54,560
Speaker 1: fashioned email.

1113
01:02:54,600 --> 01:03:16,000
Speaker 4: We are conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.

1114
01:03:16,200 --> 01:03:18,000
Speaker 3: Stuff they Don't Want You to Know is a production

1115
01:03:18,080 --> 01:03:21,680
Speaker 3: of iHeartRadio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

1116
01:03:21,800 --> 01:03:25,120
Speaker 3: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

1117
01:03:25,120 --> 01:03:26,040
Speaker 3: to your favorite shows.