Do We REALLY Need Potato Chip Grants?
If potato chips can't survive in the marketplace without government assistance...well, you think you'd look around and see flat abs and "paleo" snacks everywhere. But, the last time I was in a grocery store, I saw asses the size of Kansas, and that was just on the little kids.
Yet, our government is taking our taxpayer dollars and handing them over to a poor beleaguered potato chip company. I mean, how can a potato chip company expect to sell delicious, crispy potato chips to the tofu and bean sprout-scarfing American public without taxpayer assistance?
Jennifer Gustavson writes for the Suffolk Times:
North Fork Potato Chips won a federal grant last week and is now planning to expand its marketing reach, company officials said Thursday.Carol Sidor, who owns the 170-acre Sidor Farm in Mattituck with her husband, Martin, said she's "very pleased and excited" about winning a $49,990 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and hopes the additional funding will help her family business increase its sales.
"Getting the big contracts is a hard job," Ms. Sidor said. "I'm sure this will be a big help. We wouldn't be able to do it otherwise."
There are a lot of things I can't do without government assistance, and I have a handy-dandy solution for that: I either raise money to do them -- or I don't do them.
Ms. Sidor said the federal funding will go toward updating North Fork Potato Chips' website and brochures. The company has also started working with Northport-based marketing firm Slightly Mad Communications to help boost sales.
I need to boost my sales and make some brochures to sell my syndicated column. Is this an endeavor that we should all now consider taxpayer-fundable? Because if it's good to go for the potato chip lady it should be good to go for the syndicated advice lady.
(How did we get to a point where this sounds normal enough to people that it actually goes through?)
via Jacob Sullum
"I need to boost my sales and make some brochures to sell my syndicated column."
Off topic, have you thought about QR codes on your print columns that link to this site or radioshow?
bs123 at February 13, 2012 11:47 PM
Are there not any grants you could apply for? There must be a writing grant out there...
NicoleK at February 14, 2012 4:51 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/02/14/do_we_really_ne.html#comment-2978321">comment from bs123Don't know what a QR code is but I send the link to the radio show out with my syndicated column every week and ask papers to link to it.
Amy Alkon
at February 14, 2012 5:22 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/02/14/do_we_really_ne.html#comment-2978326">comment from NicoleKWhat I need, NicoleK, is to have my butt in the chair -- which I already do.
Amy Alkon
at February 14, 2012 5:24 AM
QR codes are those odd looking box shaped bar codes. Most smart phones can scan them with their camera and convert the code to human readable information. Like a link to your website. Or a phone number.
I wonder...when will we see QR codes on bathroom walls that say "For a good time, call Mary at 555-1212"?
I R A Darth Aggie at February 14, 2012 7:57 AM
"a $49,990 grant". That is an odd number. I guess that there is a list somewhere of federal grants at or above $50,000.
So Carol Sidor gets a grant, and I think the statistics don't include it. I wonder if Sidor is big in the local Democrat politics.
Andrew_M_Garland at February 14, 2012 12:08 PM
$49,990 the federal funding will go toward updating North Fork Potato Chips' website and brochures.
I want to be their web and ad designer. $48K would make me very happy. I'm pretty sure the Miami Market didn't spend more than $2K a couple of months ago for a website redesign.
Jim P. at February 14, 2012 6:20 PM
"'a $49,990 grant'. That is an odd number."
There's probably a breakpoint at $50K where it has to go through a different process that requires a lot more effort. We see this sort of thing in government procurement all the time, where the procuring agency tries to keep the cost of a procurement under, say, $1M because above that point, the process becomes much more involved.
Cousin Dave at February 14, 2012 9:06 PM
Although this grant is ridiculous and I understand how outraged you feel, and I agree about it, the real problem in agriculture grant is the money given to the corn syrup industry via the farmer. that number is way over 49,999$:
"Since the mid 1990s, the United States federal government has subsidized corn growers by $40 billion."
Here I found your real problem.
nico@hou at February 14, 2012 10:21 PM
"Since the mid 1990s, the United States federal government has subsidized corn growers by $40 billion."
I can assure you that pales in comparison to, say, the dairy industry.
Cousin Dave at February 15, 2012 4:02 PM
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