mr. schwab’s ducky deal

Cowboy hat By Jim Hightower - Thu., 1/31/02

Charles Schwab is one lucky duck. Not only is he a billionaire stockbroker, heading the Wall Street firm that bears his family name, but he also owns a private duck-hunting club on 1,500 acres of wetlands in picturesque Northern California. He calls it Casa de Patos — Spanish for “House of Ducks.”

In order to attract more feathered friends within gunshot range of his duck-loving pals, Schwab has had much of Casa de Patos planted in rice.

Now, Charlie didn’t get to be a billionaire by spending his money foolishly. Instead, he spends your money foolishly. His legal beagles figured out that as a rice grower, Schwab was eligible for federal farm-program subsidies from us taxpayers — lots of subsidies. Mr. and Ms. Joe Schmoe Taxpayer fork over some $500,000 a year in federal crop-support funds so Schwab can be sure that guests at his exclusive club have plenty of ducks to kill.

This program was meant to help struggling small farmers — not a pleasure-seeking Wall Streeter with a net worth of some $4 billion. With program perverters like Schwab, we taxpayers are sitting ducks.

To help return the farm program to real farmers, call Farm Aid: 617-354-2922.



Filed Under: Corporate greed