Cotton in California is an ugly and wasteful crop. It is grown in the dry southern part of the San Joaquin Valley with water that is transported at great expense from the upper Sacramento Valley. Cultivation requires pesticides and fertilizers and large amounts of fossil fuels. The runoff from the fields must then be drained off to vast marshy areas - wildlife refuges/low level toxic waste dumps.

But we make money from it? Right?

Not exactly. The World Trade Organization has approved $295 million in sanctions against the US, Associated Press reported in the NY Times, for various subsidies that our fine nation pays our fine cotton producers. Which subsidies exceed $300 billion per year. And that does not even include the water.

That would be $3 trillion over a ten year period. Wonks Anonymous seems to recall that universal coverage would cost less than that.

Was somebody looking for waste and fraud? Did you say that we couldn't afford health care for all?