Because at least one is working vs not working . Having a job vs gaming the system . To be clear , I am talking about welfare grifters . Remember a lot of these subsidies for farming came at a time when there was no global economy . Farmers were the backbone of food supply domestically . The argument could be made that they earned a little slack . Having said all that , I still don ' t like the subsidies but I don ' t think it ' s comparable to handout welfare grifters trying to sneak by on meager existence by being lazy and not working at all . What happens if there ' s is WW 3 and trade is decimated ? What if we have to rely on domestic agriculture for the majority of our food supply but there are no farmers , no skills , no equipment ? What if there is WW 3 . how do welfare grifters contribute with no skills and no value ?