farm the government
v. phr.— «Some farmers reaped large windfalls by “farming the government,” as maximizing subsidies came to be known.» —“Farming The Government” by Neil Howe, Richard Jackson Concord Coalition (Arlington, Virginia) Dec. 9, 1999. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Sarah in Fleming Island, Florida, is curious about the saying sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you, which suggests “it’s a dog-eat-dog world,” or “eat or be eaten,” or more gently, “you win...
Amber from Charlotte, North Carolina, wonders why big, heavy shoes are called clodhoppers. Originally, clodhopper was an insulting term aimed at rustics or rubes, a reference to farmers who must literally step over clods of dirt to do with work. It...