could be one of them. our world-class service earned usaa the top spot in a study of the most recommended large companies in america. if you re current or former military or their family, see if you re eligible to get an auto insurance quote. the men and women who join our nation s all-volunteer military dedicate their thrives serving their country for a lifetime. the military asks for a few years. many continue serving long after they ve returned home. our next guests turned their experiences in iraq and afghanistan into thriving businesses that give back to their fellow veterans and civilians in the war zones where they fought. joining me is mark rockefeller, a retired military officer and iraq war veteran who is now the co-founder and ceo street
mines, make stuff in u.s. and kosovo. we continue to grow. i ll be at the jersey shore this summer with combat live in flops. i hope so. how about, griff, your experience as an army ranger serving overseas deployments. how did that experience help you with the civilian transition to become a ceo? any veteran are forced to up come one creative solutions for a complex and i would have to say difficult problem that s have been plaguing our country or our a country or society for a long period of time under very ambiguous rules of engagement. and they always are mission successful. and you just years of repetitive forced maturity under that and leading people through the challenges. that s what you do as a ceo or as a business owner. you lead people through complex problems daily to arkschieve your objective. yeah. mark, how about you? how about your experience in the air force? you know, you re an army air force jag, you served the nine
there is a reason. it s no surprise for anybody watching that times are tough. it s so bad some local governments across the country are completely slashing budgets. on the chopping block are teachers, cops, even firefighters. in these tough times why are your tax dollars going to rich people for farms they don t even have? jonathan karl reports. reporter: it doesn t look like farm country. but 290 people in new york city received federal farm subsidies last year. one of them, mark rockefeller, heir to one of the most celebrated fortunes in american history. mr. rockefeller, who lives in manhattan, received nearly $330,000 in taxpayer farm money over the past 10 years. apparently for the property he owns on the snake river in idaho. it includes an upscale fishing lodge. they get 500 bucks a day just for fly fishing. get this, the $330,000 he s received from the government is called a conservation payment. that means he s paid not to farm
his land. there are city slickers like rockefeller all over the country on the farm subsidy dole. in chicago last year, 734 farmers got $2.2 million in federal subsidies. in miami, 203 people received a total of $2.5 million in farm subsidies. in san francisco, 179 farmers got $1.1 million. the list goes on. unfortunately, folks that live in cities like manhattan or san francisco that are absentee landlords and are very wealthy are taking our tax dollars and using them to help pad their bottom line. reporter: we tried several times to get ahold of mark rockefeller. i m calling about the money that mr. rockefeller receives. isn t it time for this to end? it is time for it to end. the more you find out about this government the more absurd it is. reporter: absurd or not the city slickers are still getting their payments. jonathan karl, abc news, washington. in case you re wondering this has come up for discussion