Obamacare Funding Arugula in Iowa…?
In addition to today being the first working day of the New Year, you may just happen to be aware that it’s also the day of the Iowa caucuses. Campaigning in Iowa ahead of the caucuses has led to some famous moments for political candidates, such as the famous incident in July 2007 when then-Senator Obama asked a crowd, “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?…I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.” (Yes, this is the same Barack Obama who now tries to present himself as fighting for the middle class.)
We can now helpfully report that Obamacare is doing something to bring down the price of arugula in Iowa. In late November, the Quad City Times reported that Scott County was awarded a $327,500 grant, funded out of Obamacare’s prevention “slush fund,” that will fund projects that “include making roads and paths more amenable to bike riding and talking, [and] promoting community gardens and the wide availability of locally grown fruits and vegetables.”
So at a time when the federal government is running trillion-dollar deficits, Obamacare is using taxpayer dollars to fund projects to help reduce the price of arugula and other vegetables in Iowa. But at least this spending, however questionable, represents a campaign promise (of sorts) kept – more federal grants to fund cheap arugula, and Whole Foods finally coming to Iowa later this year as well. Now if only Obamacare would bring that $2,500 premium reduction that candidate Obama repeatedly promised…