A few weeks ago, a fictional conversation was started between a member of Occupy Wall Street and a banker. Today the Occupier returns to have a conversation with a fellow native of Sonoma County. On the agenda: the proposed rent increase for the Sonoma County Farmers Market.

In July, rent for the about 100-vendor weekly market in the parking lot of the Sonoma County-owned Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building will increase from $23,875 per year to $57,660, an amount officials say would be the going rate. (That's a $338 per year increase per vendor or about $6.50 a week.) Since 2002, county officials say they have waived more than $156,000 in rent, according to news reports.

Occupier:  Well, isn't this the 1 percent vs. the 99 percent. It's déjà vu all over again. The small farmers get the shaft with a 140 percent rent increase, and the county walks off with the money. It isn't fair.

Fellow Sonoma County native: I agree, it is not fair -- but not for the reason you cite. It's not fair because it's not right that Sonoma County taxpayers are subsidizing what should be left to free enterprise. 

Occupier: What? Are you kidding me? These small farmers don't have the resources to pay a 140 percent increase because the Wall Street bankers have walked off with all the money and left the rest of us holding the bag.

Fellow Sonoma County native: Well, perhaps the market can set up a micro-loan program for the new, small growers who need help to get started. I'd support that. And I think the county keeping the rent low in the early years was probably warranted to help the market get on its feet. But I have to ask you: Do you realize taxpayers are subsidizing a market patronized largely by customers who are fully financially capable of paying the real market price of a rutabaga, not some county-subsidized price? Talk about the rich getting richer off the taxpayer.