Pigford

Breitbart.com journalist Lee Stranahan has declared May 1 "Everybody Blog about #Pigford Day." So here is my pathetic contribution to the scrum.

The significance of May 1 is that today is the final day that women and Hispanic "attempted farmers" can cash in on what is possibly the greatest scam funded by any government since Food For Oil.

Sadly, the "government" in question is our own, and if you've never heard of the Pigford scandal before now, this paper should bring you up to speed. The Newspaper of (setting a world) Record (in foot dragging before finally covering this story) also had a quality piece on Pigford last week.

The short, short version:

400 black farmers who actually were discriminated against by the USDA when applying for loans filed a  lawsuit against said entity, which agreed to settle. Originally farmers had to have "attempted to farm" between the years of 1981-1996, applied for and been denied funding by USDA, and have filed their claim under the settlement by July 1, 1997. If their claim was recognized by court appointed administrators, they got a tax free check for $50,000. In certain cases, larger damages could be pursued.

Parameters of the criteria were altered, such that the settlement was not restricted to the farmers in the original case and the deadlines for filing were ignored by the court. Close to 100,000 black "attempted farmers" ultimately ended up filing a claim (according to the US Census Bureau, there were only 33,000 African American farmers during the period in which the original Pigford farmers were treated with prejudice). The criteria used by the government for verifying claims was so pathetically lax as to be practically non-existent. If you were black, and said you "attempted" to farm, you were eligible.

Of the 22,000 of the initial claims filed by the deadline, at least 14,000 of them were paid. That's at least $700,000,000 out of the gate. In all, $4.4 Billion could be paid out.

Barack Obama has been an enthusiastic supporter of Pigford and pushed legislation as a Senator to allow for a second generation of claims. Pigford II, as it has come to be known, allowed a new group of "attempted farmers" with claims of discrimination to file for payment. The new deadline for filing was June 19, 2008, which opened the floodgates for another 60,000 applicants (the deadline has since been extended again). After he was elected, President Obama pushed hard to have these claims settled quickly.

Pigford II is also open to non-African Americans who were allegedly "victims of discrimination" at the hands of federal lenders: Women, Native American and Hispanic "attempted farmers" have also filed claims. Women and Hispanic "farmers" may continue to file through today.

To date there has been no Congressional investigation of this scam, nor has the FBI devoted much attention to it.