ABSTRACT
John Spratt after beneficiaries of federally-subsidized power descended on Capitol Hill to try to protect the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) from President Clinton's proposed cutbacks. When Congress established the REA fewer than 12 percent of American farms had power; by 1953 nine of ten did. Having completed its original task, the REA no longer extends service to poor farmers. Among the recent major borrowers from the REA are coops serving the suburbs of Atlanda, Dallas, Denver, and San Antonio. The coops so happily pigging out at the taxpayers' trough were not needy, of course. During the early 1980s their assets jumped more than 50 percent and their profit margins doubled. In short, the REA's clients want it all: if private loans are expensive, they want federally-subsidized credit; if interest rates fall, they want the REA to help them pay off their old public loans.
