Great piece on in the invisible nature of the subsidized west. People like Cliven Bundy are so ignorant they have no idea what they've been getting for free for decades:
http://on.msnbc.com/1fgzEVi
Even just looking at grazing fees, the amount was set back in the 1960s at $1.25 per cow/calf pair. Since the 1960s it has increased to $1.34...only 9 cents in 50 years. If the grazing fees had kept up with inflation, they'd be over $9 by now. And ironically, if you want to graze your cattle on private land, the going rate is around $16 per cow/calf pair, over 10 times higher than the BLM charges.
If rubes like Bundy had to pay their neighbors, or all the federal land was bought by developers, they'd pine for the good old days of the federal US government and the taxpayer-financed freeloading they got to engage in.
The fact is the west is subsidized up the wazoo. From mining to forestry to water, nobody pays a real market price, and the general taxpayer sees little benefit. It's a travesty that these self-righteous hypocrites like Bundy get to persist in their delusions and drive policy. But this is the kind of mismatch between perception and reality that passes for modern conservative thought.
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