New buffalo-meat bail-out program is "welfare for epicurean billionaires"

WASHINGTON, DC -- Taxpayers are getting "buffaloed" again, thanks to a new federal program that is buying surplus bison meat at inflated prices -- a subsidy that's going straight into the pockets of people like billionaire Ted Turner.

"The federal government has created a new form of food: Buffalo-pork," charged Libertarian Party National Director Steve Dasbach. "Taxpayers are picking up the buffalo bill, and welfare billionaires like Ted Turner are profiting."

The Agriculture Department has announced that it will spend $6 million this year to buy surplus bison meat -- or about one-quarter of the industry's ground-meat production.

The problem: There are 250,000 commercial bison in America now, a number that's growing by about 20% a year. Bison ranchers are producing more meat than the public wants and the surplus is piling up -- so the federal government has stepped in to buy the extra meat at $3.45 a pound.

"This program is welfare for rich epicureans: Subsidizing the production of a luxury meat that most Americans can't even afford," said Dasbach. "Even worse, it's welfare for billionaires, since the single largest producer of buffalo meat is Ted Turner."

Turner, the vice chairman of the mega-corporation Time-Warner, raises 17,000 bison on 1.4 million acres of ranches, sprawling across Montana, New Mexico, and Nebraska.

"It's a pathetic sight: A billionaire like Ted Turner with a tin cup in hand, begging for hand-outs from the taxpayer," said Dasbach. "People who make the minimum wage are subsidizing a billionaire's hobby of producing high-priced novelty steaks for other wealthy people."

Mindful of the negative PR generated by help-the-rich-get-richer government programs, the federal government has promised that the bison bail-out is only a "temporary" thing.

In fact, USDA Agricultural Marketing Services bureaucrat Enrique Figueroa vowed, "We are not going to be buying bison infinitely."

But Libertarians are cynical about such promises.

"Remember the words of Milton Friedman: Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program," said Dasbach: "We suspect that as long as Ted Turner wants a hand-out, obliging federal bureaucrats will continue to roast the taxpayer for his financial benefit."

Ironically, bison were nearly extinct at the turn of the century, when there were fewer than 1,500 animals alive. Now, thanks to the commercial success of bison burgers, steaks, and roasts, that number has skyrocketed -- especially in the past decade as buffalo meat has become more widely known and popular.

"The buffalo-production industry seems to have set a new record: From zero to subsidy in just a few years," said Dasbach. "But buffalo were saved from extinction with help from the free market. Now it's time to let the free market work without government interference -- and make this bison bail-out program extinct."

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