Fraud

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071801467.html">Aid to Ranchers Was Diverted For Big Profits</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>When a drought left pastures in a handful of Plains states parched in 2003, ranchers turned to the federal government for help. Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture quickly responded with what they considered an innovative plan.<br />n<br />nThey decided to dip into massive stockpiles of powdered milk that the agency had stored in warehouses nationwide as part of its milk price-support program. Livestock owners could get the protein-rich commodity free and feed it to their cattle and calves. The milk would help ranchers weather the drought while the government reduced its growing stockpile.<br />n<br />nBut within months, the program spawned a lucrative secondary market in which ranchers, feed dealers and brokers began trading the powdered milk in a daisy chain of transactions, generating millions of dollars in profits. Tens of millions of pounds of powdered milk intended solely for livestock owners in drought-stricken states went to states with no drought or were sold to middlemen in Mexico and other countries, a Washington Post investigation found.</blockquote><br />n<br />nI remember this program. It wasn't available around here. I'm not sure if it wasn't available in Montana, or just the county I am in, but I remember it. I never could figure out how they were going to use powdered milk to help ranchers who's cattle were out on pasture and not getting a feed supplement.<br />n<br />nThis round robin of transfers though so people made money on it I have never heard about at all. It just goes to show you that when you try to help people there will be rotten bums in the bunch who abuse the system and in the long run hurt us all. No different than the fraud and abuse you are seeing with Hurricane Katrina. The jokers always find a way to profit while honest people suffer. It's sad.<br />n<br />n<strong>Perhaps that suspicion of fraud enhances the flavor. C. S. Forester</strong>