IN THE last few years, governments at every level have seriously overspent. Many have coped by borrowing against the future. However, as debts have mounted, creditors have either become reluctant to make additional loans (think Greece), or are demanding ever-higher interest rates. Interest groups have become expert at extracting "goodies," with agriculture ) among the most persistent and successful supplicants. In the U.S., the federal government has been the major source of largesse for agriculture, but state governments have also handed out goodies.
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