White House announces $1B plan to address increases in meat prices

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: The Hill

The White House on Monday announced plans aimed at addressing rising prices for meat and poultry, including setting aside $1 billion for smaller producers.

The Biden administration unveiled its action plan to diversify and strengthen the meat-producing supply chain ahead of a scheduled virtual meeting between President Biden and independent farmers and ranchers.

The White House has previously pointed to a small number of conglomerates for driving up meat and poultry prices, which have been a major contributor to broader inflation in recent months.

"When dominant middlemen control so much of the supply chain, they can increase their own profits at the expense of both farmers - who make less - and consumers - who pay more," the White House said in a fact sheet announcing its action plan on Monday. "Most farmers now have little or no choice of buyer for their product and little leverage to negotiate, causing their share of every dollar spent on food to decline."

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-announces-dollar1b-plan-to-address-increases-in-meat-prices/ar-AASnV5T

[Bayard]

1. Huge conglomerates like Tyson and Cargill need to be reined in.

Independent farmers and ranchers don't stand a chance against that kind of power. I don't see how throwing money into the situation will help.

[twodogsbarking]

2. Them that hold the gold make the rules.

Here a billion there a billion everywhere a billion billion.

[pecosbob]

5. "I don't see how throwing money into the situation will help."

Nor I

[nvme]

3. WTF why are we not using ANTI-TRUST

ENOUGH ALREADY!

[GB_RN]

4. Exactly.

Time to break out the Sherman Antitrust Act and break up some of these companies. We have had 40+ years of corporate consolidations in too many sectors. The workers and consumers always pay for it in the end, while the shareholders reap the benefits.

For example, how many phone companies did we have after the original AT&T was broken up? Now, we're down to just a handful, and our cell phone bills are ridiculous. Cable companies have always been monopolies for reasons no one can legitimately explain, so our cable bills are astronomical...and if you've got Internet service with your cable company? Well, you know how bad your service is...

Un(der)regulated capitalism...ain't it grand?

[pecosbob]

6. Once upon a time corporations strove to be good members of their community

They have abandoned that philosophy and adopted that of maximizing shareholder dividends above all else. Many have effectively become predators menacing our communities. IMO if corporations do not promote the public good they should not be allowed to exist.

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. You can thank Milton Friedman

He thought a company's sole responsibility was to increase shareholder returns. Ronald Reagan loved him.

[mathematic]

7. As a meat eater and buyer, we don't need more meat subsides.

Just give the $1B to the poor and let them decide if they want to spend it on meat or not.

As for allegations of anti-competitiveness? Well, go ahead and prove that. I'm still paying $2/lb for chicken breasts, the same I was paying in 2020 before the inflation.

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. I can get a 10 lb bag of chicken leg quarters for under $4

Now, beef prices have gone up, but chicken and pork other than bacon is still really cheap.

[NickB79]

10. The ranchers are being squeezed by the conglomerate meat packers

Giving people free money for meat does nothing to rectify this, and guarantees meat prices stay high in the future.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/27/business/beef-prices-cattle-ranchers.html

The distress of American cattle ranchers represents the underside of the staggering winnings harvested by the conglomerates that dominate the meatpacking industry — Tyson Foods and Cargill, plus a pair of companies controlled by Brazilian corporate owners, National Beef Packing Company and JBS.

Since the 1980s, the four largest meatpackers have used a wave of mergers to increase their share of the market from 36 percent to 85 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Their dominance has allowed them to extinguish competition and dictate prices, exploiting how federal authorities have weakened the enforcement of laws enacted a century ago to tame the excesses of the Robber Barons, say antitrust experts and advocates for the ranchers.