Big Meat Packers and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association have taken U.S. cattlemen and consumers for a ride.
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Let us not discount the power of money that is buying politicians to allow this to happen. Crony capitalism is what it is called. We have a Congress that has the oversight responsibility for these type of activities and without doubt they have sided with the rule of gold over the golden rule when it comes to enforcing market laws. This devalues the market for everyone who isn’t on the take. That means the average cattleman and meat producer on the pawn level. That includes most cattlemen.
As politicians rake in campaign contributions and the lobbying force of these giant multinationals, they squeeze the average cattleman and meat producer.
The most important law that is not competently being enforced is the Packers and Stockyards Act. The public is footing the bill for the Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration whose competence and power is being sold to the multinationals who have taken over the beef and meats industry.
Federal judges are now making litigants prove that the outright prohibitions fit into their incompetent understanding of these economic laws. It is helping the industry concentrate at this time and will lead to larger economic profits. Much of this value is being illegally squeezed from producers so that these meat packers can maintain a supply chain that is not competitive for producers and because of the great power over chicken producers, is pushing the substitution of chicken over beef by squeezing the chicken producers and producing below market cost chicken.
This industry has been sold out to those with the gold. Congress is primarily to blame for these abuses but federal judges who have gone out of their way to not competently enforce the market rules in the law are also a big problem.