Is This Any Way to Run a Government? - Recap

This episode is about the many ways in which the US government waste its money specifically the US Department of Agriculture or USDA. Although this was aired during the early Clinton years, it's an overall assessment of the USDA since it was created.

Will Lyman shows us footage from a Clinton press conference with Al Gore. Clinton says he’ll cut down on the government red tape and cut down on costs. However, as Lyman shows us the odds of that happening are unlikely. The first minutes talk about the disarray of the US Department of Agriculture. Lyman goes into the history of the USDA how it was founded by Abraham Lincoln. We hear from Edward Madigan, Robert Bergland, Earl Butz, all former Secretaries for Department of Agriculture. They all explain the ways in which money is wasted. In many cases, money is spent on stuff that has nothing to do with agriculture even to the most ridiculous thing as the flow rate of ketchup. Lyman goes back to give another history how the USDA was in the farm credit administration and helped with their crops, or so we are told. We get to meet Donnie Walker whose own family was shown a newsreel story about formers. Fast forward about forty years later, the farm that the government was supposed to help is all about but dead . Lyman tells us how Walker works as a janitor and has to work a second job to keep the farm that’s been in his family. The corporations who really control agriculture would put families like the Walkers out of business. The bigger the corporation the bigger the payout. Most farm oriented corporations are big corporations, so the majority of cash subsidies go to them. We hear from Ken Cook whose part of the Environmental Working Group. Ken’s testimony talks about the corrupt bookkeeping of the USDA.

As Lyman says, many of the farmers that get cash subsidies aren’t of public record and only the USDA knows their true identities.. With this of course comes massive fraud. We learn how many of the subsidies actually go to the rich farmers . For example, Dean Jiggins. He receives cash subsidies, but he also has listed several associates or partners who are not farmers but receive, along with Jiggins, millions of dollars in cash subsidies.

Frontlines tracks down many of these phony people who are allegedly farmers for Jiggins such as Charles Lansdon who as they expose is actually an accountant for Jiggins. They actually track his residence but are stopped at the door. Phyllis Windler is an attorney for the absentee farmers. She mentions how these fake farmer partnerships were well known. One of these phony partners, Ruth Penner, of KC-BC farms actually talks on camera to Frontline. She talks to Frontline mostly to act as if she didn’t know what was going on even though she also handled much of the bookkeeping for Jiggins.

We move to a segment on House and Senate Agricultural Committee who decide who qualifies for USDA subsidies. We hear from Republican Pat Roberts whose farmers and supporters receive a whopping six hundred and thirty million dollars in cash subsidies. Not surprising, he sees no problem with USDA.

The next segment is about how the Forest industry, and the USDA function together even though both industries have nothing to do with one another much less farming. The irony here is parts of the forest industry who are paid to oversee the preservation of forests actually do the opposite. We hear from Jeff Dibonis who used to work for the Timber industry and is now an activist. Jeff goes in detail about how the Timber and forest industry work hand in hand to cut down trees as if they were crops to farmers. Dibonis was a timber sale planner who scoped the forest land to cut down and using the Environmental policy act finished the sale all at tax payer expense. Lyman says the forest industry gets so much from USDA that it has got tax payers over four billion dollars in the 80s.

We get a couple more segments with the USDA and it’s overall performance. In the end, despite the administrations talk about change, Lyman says the facts show that the only actual change will be as low as one percent..


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