Last week we learned that a Brazilian-owned meatpacking company has received at least three bailouts from the Trump regime totaling over $60 million, but they've reportedly received another.
The New York Daily News -- which first reported the existence of the company's first three bailouts -- now reports that they received a fourth bailout of $2 million on Friday.
Just one day after the Daily News reported the Trump administration had doled out millions of dollars intended to benefit American farmers to JBS USA — owned by Joesley and Wesley Batista who both admitted to bribing hundreds of South American officials — the government upped the company’s take to $64.4 million, new purchase records reveal. [...]
A spokesman for the Agriculture Department declined to comment beyond a statement issued last week saying it doesn’t matter “who the vendor is” because “the products purchased are grown in the U.S. and benefit U.S. farmers.” [...]
“Our sole intent for participating is to support U.S. producer prices and help our American producer partners,” [a JBS spokesman] said. “This is not a bailout. We are paid for the work of our team members in the plant and the products we produce, which are used to support important federal feeding programs that assist U.S. citizens.”
The Agriculture Department's response is only partially true. The meat acquired by JBS does come from livestock raised in the United States as far as we know (I'm half expecting another shoe to drop here), but farmers do not see another dime after the livestock has already changed hands. JBS will keep the $64 million.
And as we discussed last week, JBS is doing quite well for itself. The Brazilian-owned company saw its exports to China increase by 24 percent after Trump launched a trade war that prompted the Chinese government to impose retaliatory tariffs on American agriculture.
Trump bailout program is suppose to help farmers that are struggling, not foreign-owned businesses that are thriving.