30 March 2005

Policy as if outcomes don't matter

When outcomes don't determine policy, this is how politicians spend your tax money:

[T]he [UK] government finally published details of the £1.7bn in support payments that farmers and agricultural companies in England receive from the taxpayer.The most glaring subsidy was more than £120m received by Tate and Lyle in a single year.
and

Aristocrats who received CAP subsidies included the Dukes of Westminster (£448,000 in 2003-04), Marlborough (£511,000) and Bedford (£366,000), plus the Earl of Plymouth (£459,000) and the Marquess of Cholmondely (£306,000).
Meanwhile:

Ali Abbas, the Iraqi orphan who lost both arms in the war, has been told he will not receive backdated disability payments in Britain because he cannot prove his injuries existed before last week.
Sources: 1, 2, 3.

No comments: