>>Heck, this is an even better plan than big giveaways to Wall Street
And helping Wall Street has not stopped a single foreclosure (that I know of).  Normally I'd say no to corporate welfare at the taxpayers' expense especially since the gov't is broke (borrowing $ to cover its overspending) but one could make the case that saving the commercial beekeepers should/might prevent food price spikes for the taxpayers due to insufficient pollination.
You are right that the replacement hives might just die as the current ones seem to be doing but, since a lot of the die-offs have come and gone without a warning or explanation, they might just make it through another pollination season and even beyond it.  Without knowing the root causes, we just can't tell for sure.
Long term, it seems, each beekeeper may need to plan to just run extra hives to cover losses.  This is not a perfect plan - how do you overstock your operation for near 100% die-offs! - because you may end up with too many hives in good years but there have to be some recovery plans if the US pollination needs are to be services adequately each season.
I suppose the Austrial imports may be a good part of such recovery plans.
Waldemar
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