Are Farm Subsidies Good Economic Development?

"[D]espite the fact that farm income has doubled in two years, federal subsidies have also gone up nearly 40 percent over the same period -- projected at $15.7 billion this year, and $130 billion over the last nine years. And that bounty is drawing fire from people who say that at this moment of farm prosperity, the nation's subsidy system has never made less sense.

'I struggle with the same question: how the hell can you have such high government payments if farmers had such a great year?' said Keith Collins, the chief economist for the Agriculture Department."

...Farm groups say the subsidies provide for a stable food supply, and ensure that major sectors of American agriculture will be competitive on the global market."