In a story about the new U.S. farm subsidy bill on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday this weekend, we came across a stunning display of illogic. The story focuses on the fact that the majority of the subsidies — 70% — go to just 10% of farm owners, and that the primary beneficiaries of the subsidies are not small family farmers, but huge corporations. But all isn’t lost, however:

While small farms draw the littlest checks, they may depend on them more than their larger neighbors. That’s because some of the biggest, most efficient farms can produce crops so cheaply that they could weather low prices and stay profitable even with no subsidies at all.

And this “logic” is being used to justify the continuance and increase of subsidies.