The Feds Took 182,000 Tons of Raisins from U.S. Farmers. This Insane Flowchart Shows What Happened Next.

Spoiler Alert: SCOTUS wasn't having it.

reason infographic

For more details, check out the rest of Reason's coverage of the Horne case here, here, here, and here. 

Comments

[Hugh Akston]

This Idiotic Clickbait Headline Will Make You Wonder Why You Bother With This Site

[crab_apple]

I LITERALLY COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WAS DOING WITH RAISINS! AND THEN I READ THIS...

[Sevo]

Well, it's only one secret trick!

[SaraParker56]

Most people aren't aware of the almost unbelievable deals that they can get from online auction sites. I know I found the best site, http://SaveSector.com and I am regularly saving hundreds of dollars on things like iPads, gift cards, and smart phones. I got a $200 Best Buy Gift card there for $33. I did all my Christmas shopping there and I spent less and get more than ever before.

[Room 237]

Especially if they auction off black market raisins.

[esteve7]

Please tell me that Buzzfeed-like crappy headline was meant to be ironic?

If not, shame on you Reason. You're better than that.

[Corning]

Honestly I like Buzzfeed-like crappy headline far more then the links to Buzzfeed and Gawker and Vox....

Sadly we are forced to endure both here.

[AlmightyJB]

You guys want some cheese with that whine?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Please. Provolone.

[AlmightyJB]

I kinda like Havarti

[Swiss Servator, Holzhacker]

Baby Swiss, plz.

[Rhywun]

Nothin's better than cheddar.

[AlmightyJB]

Colby

[Rhywun]

Ugh - too bland.

[Suicidy]

Che-ddar? Sorry, not familiar with that?

[Marshall Gill]

I prefer a nice Venezuelan beaver cheese.

[Poppa Kilo]

Not today, sir.

[Mindyourbusiness]

But they can't have beer with it, according to today's news.

Ah, the organic democracy...

[Corning]

I predict that after this ruling that the open market price of raisins will drop....

And the raisin administrative committee will be lobbying for new taxes on raisins.

[B. Woodrow Chippenhaus]

No, Congress will just draft a law taxing raisin handlers for the current year's market value of whatever percentage of the crop they've been taking each year. Handlers will 'pay' this tax on paper, and then 'sell' that much in raisins to the government.

[bassjoe]

How about you create a flowchart that actually shows why this was corrupt and byzantine? Those are much more entertaining (depressing?) to go through. This flowchart likely does the actual nightmare no justice.

[kmc212]

You may replace "seizing" with "stealing."

[Almanian - Wood Chipper-ish]

"My engine blowed up real good when the piston seized....er....stealed...in the cylinder."

I dunno - it's just not working for me....

[kmc212]

Into the woodchipper with you!

[Almanian - Wood Chipper-ish]

Steal the Day, lmc212!! STEAL THE DAY!

[Chumby]

Steal and desist!

[Jason Keisling]

Well played

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

In Soviet Russia, marketplace is orderly. For example, we make left boots in factory in Latvia and right boots in factory in Kazakhstan. We make one size which fits all comrades in glorious worker's paradise.

[Brett L]

We trim toes off those with feet too big and surgically attach to those with feet too small.

[Almanian - Wood Chipper-ish]

In Soviet Russia, toes trim YOU!

[Chumby]

Toe the party line.

[Butler]

So, the entire system is set up for no purpose other than to employe the Raisin Committee bureacrats? No one else gets a single MF'ing thing out of the deal? In fact, there's not even a pretense of anyone else getting anything out of the deal?

I know I shouldn't be surprised. We are beyond parody at this point.

NOTHING LEFT TO CUT!

[Corning]

"In fact, there's not even a pretense of anyone else getting anything out of the deal?"

Large producers certainly get a huge advantage to smaller raisin producers with this scheme.

Also current raisin producers never have to worry about any competition from upstarts that mess with new raisin verities (different grapes or different processing) as they are defacto illegal in this scheme.

[R C Dean]

No one else gets a single MF'ing thing out of the deal?

Schools get cut-rate raisins.

And I'm betting those exporters got a hell of deal, too.

So, yes, there seems to be some crony rent-seeking, if that makes you feel better.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

I can't imagine that they're sending the best stuff into the "seized" pile, though, so basically they're giving the shitty stuff to school kids.

[Rhywun]

Schools get cut-rate raisins.

Too bad raisins are disgusting - I always tossed them at school lunchtime.

[gaoxiaen]

US raisins are cheaper here in Taiwan than in PA.

[BuSab Agent]

You forgot ensuring a steady supply of antique raisins to school lunches.

[Crusty Juggler]

That is on the flow chart.

[BuSab Agent]

My comment was supposed to be a reply to Butler, but sometimes as we get older we suffer from Reply button failure.

[Crusty Juggler]

Another victory for Big Raisin.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Does the USDA literally just 'take' it?

Gotta love the bureaucracy and its muscling-in on territory talents. They make the mob look amateurish.

[R C Dean]

Does the USDA literally just 'take' it?

Yeah, I think they do. From the SCOTUS opinion:

Actual raisins are transferred from the growers to the Government. Title to the raisins passes to the Raisin Committee.

Looks like title transfers. That's a taking.

[Suicidy]

I would liked to have seen a stand off between some raisin farmers and the Feds similar to the Cliven Bundy situation last year. It would help the administration's image even more sending jack booted thugs in to confiscate the aforementioned raisins a gunpoint. Picture headlines like 'Raisin standoff enters 2nd week'.

[Suicidy]

They do. I heard it through the grapevine.

[Chumby]

Only at Raisin magazine...

[Corning]

"Does the USDA literally just 'take' it?"

Nah

I am sure the government makes the producers process package and deliver it to the government at the producers expense.

[Calvin Coolidge]

Eh, just call it a raisin tax and keep right on collecting it in the exact same way as before.

[Copernicus would chip]

When will we stop raisin' taxes?

[Chumby]

Sounds like you have a case of sour grapes.

[Kevin Sorbos Manful Locks]

Grape jokes are my raison d'?tre

[some-yahoo]

So, will the federal government now pay (with interest) for all the raisins they stole from raisin growers since 1949?

And, will they make good on all the raisin growers they forced out of business during that time?

Will they pay their legal, other fees and costs associate with this theft?

Lastly, when are the thieves going on trial?

Have I missed anything?

[R C Dean]

You actually raise a very interesting question.

If this is a taking, then it was always a taking, and it would seem the feds should be required to pay for all the raisins ever taken under this program.

You might have a back-end limit on that per the statute of limitations, but I don't know if one would even apply here.

[Chip the Chipper]

Fuck em. Let this be what bankrupts the country. It would be hilarious IMO.

[DuplicationCube]

How much precious California water was wasted on these raisins?
Also, how does 182000 tons compare to the total number of raisins produced in 2002-2003? The flowchart makes it look like it's nearly half.

[robc]

The reserves ranged from 30% to 47%. So nearly half might have been correct for 2002-2003.

[R C Dean]

That water wasn't wasted. It was used to grow raisins, some of which the farmers sold, and the rest of which the Feds seized at a cut-rate price to resell for a fat profit.

But I don't see any of the seized raisins being destroyed, so no water was wasted.

[Copernicus would chip]

Stilgar has spoken.

[mpercy]

Shai-Hulud, Shai-Hulud, Shai-Hulud...

[Rockabilly]

Comrade Bernie appropriated the raisins for a new Ben & Jerry's flavor:

Raisins and nuts for central committee.

[Suicidy]

It would provide some snack food as he is being chauffeured about in his state produced Trabamt.

[Episiarch]

"It's got raisins in it. You like raisins."

[thrakkorzog]

+1 comment. But you still owe me 2 dollars.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

No matter, the raisin bureaucrats can always find work in the Department of Silly Walks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV2ViNJFZC8

[R C Dean]

I've gone back to my regular handle, before someone stole it.

That is all. Carry on.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It was getting hard to to keep track of everyone

[Corning]

"keep track of everyone"

Internet stalker or federal plant?

You need to be wood-chipped from orbit to be sure.

[Chumby]

If a tree is woodchipped in orbit with no one around, does it make a sound is a subpoena still issued?

[Sevo]

The "Raisin Administrative Committee".
If the name alone doesn't give you the heebie-jeebies, you're in the wrong place.

[defenestrate]

I do appreciate the fact that its existence officially confirms the DoA (and fed by proxy) as a RACist entity.

[Copernicus would chip]

If the "Raisin Administrative Committee" appeared in an Ayn Rand novel.....

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I could sure go for a raisin square from Randy's Donuts right now.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I've been taking your crops, since you've been able to see.
There's never been any raisin immune from my decree

Now you beat me in court, and it's makin' me cry.
But I'll be back for your raisins, and that ain't no lie.

[Win Bear]

Son, what do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to become a hero to my country! I want to become a member of the Raisin Administrative Committee!

[Chip the Chipper]

Raisin Administrative Committee. I'm going home for the day.

[mpercy]

Just another place for the "top men" to work, right?

[Myptofvu]

I am left with questions about the ruling. So it is considered taking and therefore needs to be compensated. Does this mean that they will just go back to the system before where they were getting paid pennies on the dollar? Will the raisin council still be the one deciding what compensations is fair? Or are the farmers no allowed to keep all of their raisins?

[adolphowisner]

This will be the down fall to the greatest country on the planet. too many leaches think they are entitled to other peoples earnings. ????? http://www.Workweb40.com

[Unicorn Abattoir]

$745/ton market value? $242/ton via government?

Evil profits!! Government is more efficient!!

/prog

[Bubba Jones]

I am unclear on how this is different from simply taxing the raisins. We have different income tax rates for different business models.

[Room 237]

I really don't like raisins

[ReeceWoodchipper]

http://www.examiner.com/articl.....ke-freedom