Big Beef

[Sparko]

So apparently Biden 'just recently noticed' that meat prices are through the roof. So he made a dumb speech blaming the meat producers and claiming they are exploiting people. Yet these same meat producers' prices were low 1 year ago under Trump during the pandemic. So what changed? Biden. Blocking pipelines, idiotic mandates, trying to force higher minimum wages, trucker shortages, supply line problems. It's not the meat producers trying to take advantage of people, it's them and everyone in the supply chain passing down the extra costs to the consumer. Big Government is the problem, not Big Beef.

Of course what is Biden's solution? Fix the supply chain problems? No. Give more government money to small beef producers. That's right, he is using the problem he created as an excuse to raise taxes and spend more of our money. How is us paying more taxes to pay farmers going to help anyone? The costs will still be high because of the supply chain problems mentioned above. Insanity!
--------------------
Biden says he found out from family friend that meat costs are soaring
https://nypost.com/2022/01/03/biden-...s-are-soaring/

[rogue06]

No surprise that old Joe first heard about it from a family friend since it sure as heck wasn't from his keepers who treat him like a mushroom keeping him in the dark and feeding him poop.

How else can anyone explain why he thinks the colossal series of cluster FUBARs that were his withdrawal from Afghanistan was an "outstanding success"? Or think that "Let's Go Brandon" is a compliment?

Old Joe is trying Elizabeth Fauxcahontas Warren's line that has been hilariously exploding in her face. It isn't uncontrollable inflation brought on by a Congress spending obscene amounts of money:

tweet-energy-warren-joy-reid-7-year-olds-thinking.jpg tweet-elizabeth-warren-thanksgiving-inflation-printing-money.jpg

tweet-elon-musk-elizabeth-warren-most-taxes-american-history-spend-it-all.jpgtweet-elon-musk-elizabeth-warren-senator-karen.jpg

Leave it to the duffer to adopt a hilariously inept strategy.

[Maranatha]

So apparently Biden 'just recently noticed' that meat prices are through the roof. So he made a dumb speech blaming the meat producers and claiming they are exploiting people. Yet these same meat producers' prices were low 1 year ago under Trump during the pandemic. So what changed? Biden. Blocking pipelines, idiotic mandates, trying to force higher minimum wages, trucker shortages, supply line problems. It's not the meat producers trying to take advantage of people, it's them and everyone in the supply chain passing down the extra costs to the consumer. Big Government is the problem, not Big Beef.

Of course what is Biden's solution? Fix the supply chain problems? No. Give more government money to small beef producers. That's right, he is using the problem he created as an excuse to raise taxes and spend more of our money. How is us paying more taxes to pay farmers going to help anyone? The costs will still be high because of the supply chain problems mentioned above. Insanity!
--------------------
Biden says he found out from family friend that meat costs are soaring
https://nypost.com/2022/01/03/biden-...s-are-soaring/

Big Beef?

Are the leftists here against Big Beef?

What about Big Chicken?

Big Chicken has done more against freedom and economics than Big Beef ever dreamed.

Pass it on, Big Chicken is worse than Big Beef. Don't even get me started on Big Pork.

[Sparko]

No surprise that old Joe first heard about it from a family friend since it sure as heck wasn't from his keepers who treat him like a mushroom keeping him in the dark and feeding him poop.

How else can anyone explain why he thinks the colossal series of cluster FUBARs that were his withdrawal from Afghanistan was an "outstanding success"? Or think that "Let's Go Brandon" is a compliment?

Old Joe is trying Elizabeth Fauxcahontas Warren's line that has been hilariously exploding in her face. It isn't uncontrollable inflation brought on by a Congress spending obscene amounts of money:


Leave it to the duffer to adopt a hilariously inept strategy.

I think the Democrats trying to blame industry for their own failings will backfire. Where do they think they get most of their campaign money from? Big Business. I think they are going to see a lot of their slush funds start to dry up after this new "tactic" they are trying.

[Sparko]

Big Beef?

Are the leftists here against Big Beef?

What about Big Chicken?

Big Chicken has done more against freedom and economics than Big Beef ever dreamed.

Pass it on, Big Chicken is worse than Big Beef. Don't even get me started on Big Pork.

Oh Biden is against all meat producers. "Big Beef" just has a nicer ring than "Big Meat"

[Cow Poke]

On a side note, there's a growing trend in Texas to purchase beef from locally sourced ranches.

There is definitely some manipulation in the market, with just four big processors in the U.S. -- Cargill (CARG.UL), a global commodity trader based in Minnesota; Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N), the chicken producer that is the biggest U.S. meat company by sales; Brazil-based JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), the world's biggest meatpacker; and National Beef Packing Co (NBEEF.UL), which is controlled by Brazilian beef producer Marfrig Global Foods SA (MRFG3.SA).

This is NOT new, of course, so it doesn't explain the sudden increase in prices. I just bought 6 BEAUTIFUL hand cut thick NY Strips from a local producer yesterday, because I try NOT to buy beef from "the Big Four".

More and more local producers are processing their own beef, or arranging with other processors to avoid dealing with "Big Beef".

[rogue06]

I think the Democrats trying to blame industry for their own failings will backfire. Where do they think they get most of their campaign money from? Big Business. I think they are going to see a lot of their slush funds start to dry up after this new "tactic" they are trying.

China will be more than willing to pick up the slack. Cue the Buddhist monks!

[rogue06]

Oh Biden is against all meat producers. "Big Beef" just has a nicer ring than "Big Meat"

so many tasteless jokes just writing themselves...

[Sparko]

On a side note, there's a growing trend in Texas to purchase beef from locally sourced ranches.

There is definitely some manipulation in the market, with just four big processors in the U.S. -- Cargill (CARG.UL), a global commodity trader based in Minnesota; Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N), the chicken producer that is the biggest U.S. meat company by sales; Brazil-based JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), the world's biggest meatpacker; and National Beef Packing Co (NBEEF.UL), which is controlled by Brazilian beef producer Marfrig Global Foods SA (MRFG3.SA).

This is NOT new, of course, so it doesn't explain the sudden increase in prices. I just bought 6 BEAUTIFUL hand cut thick NY Strips from a local producer yesterday, because I try NOT to buy beef from "the Big Four".

More and more local producers are processing their own beef, or arranging with other processors to avoid dealing with "Big Beef".

And that is another thing Biden misses. If Big Beef/chicken/pork raises their prices above the market level, then that means the small guy can step in and under-price them and take a larger share of the market. What the little guy has to really worry about is when the big guys drop their prices so low that they drive the local producers out of business. Not when Big Beef is charging too much.

[Sparko]

so many tasteless jokes just writing themselves...

Which is why I used "Big Beef" I was hoping to avoid the Pin™

[Cow Poke]

And that is another thing Biden misses. If Big Beef/chicken/pork raises their prices above the market level, then that means the small guy can step in and under-price them and take a larger share of the market. What the little guy has to really worry about is when the big guys drop their prices so low that they drive the local producers out of business. Not when Big Beef is charging too much.

Yes, but the anticipation is already there that the government will use the USDA (under pressure from Big Beef) to harass and complicate the production of the smaller producers. We're already seeing some of that. It's a large part of why I got out of cattle.

[mossrose]

Which is why I used "Big Beef" I was hoping to avoid the Pin™

We must always blame someone else for our blunders, yes?

[Sparko]

We must always blame someone else for our blunders, yes?

[Gondwanaland]

So apparently Biden 'just recently noticed' that meat prices are through the roof. So he made a dumb speech blaming the meat producers and claiming they are exploiting people. Yet these same meat producers' prices were low 1 year ago under Trump during the pandemic. So what changed? Biden. Blocking pipelines, idiotic mandates, trying to force higher minimum wages, trucker shortages, supply line problems. It's not the meat producers trying to take advantage of people, it's them and everyone in the supply chain passing down the extra costs to the consumer. Big Government is the problem, not Big Beef.

Of course what is Biden's solution? Fix the supply chain problems? No. Give more government money to small beef producers. That's right, he is using the problem he created as an excuse to raise taxes and spend more of our money. How is us paying more taxes to pay farmers going to help anyone? The costs will still be high because of the supply chain problems mentioned above. Insanity!
--------------------
Biden says he found out from family friend that meat costs are soaring
https://nypost.com/2022/01/03/biden-...s-are-soaring/

Okay a few things here. I don't eat meat so I don't pay attention to prices. But I'm sure a lot of it has to do with Bidens policies.

We do know that Big Chicken got caught price fixing pretty recently so his statement isn't without merit. I wouldn't be surprised if the large near-monopoly meatpackers that deal with beef and pork (like JBS) are doing the same.

As to exploitingbpeople, of that there is no doubt. The meat industry is based on the commodification of other sentient beings, so it would not be surprising to see them do the same with sentient beings of their own species.

And indeed that is what we see. Meatpackers have to work in horrendous conditions, little to no safety, low pay, and drowning in feces is not uncommon. Just think on that for a minute. Not to mention the exploitation of undocumented workers by these companies..
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/covid-1...acking-workers

https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants...packing-plant/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...oronavirus-war


-
And they are certainly exploiting farmers and ranchers with their near-monopolies.

https://thecounter.org/consolidated-...vid-beef-usda/

https://civileats.com/2021/07/14/jus...playing-field/

The Consolidation Problem


One sentiment many farmer advocates share is that while consolidation in meat and poultry is not a new problem, things feel different at this moment for several reasons.

While many agricultural groups have long fought any kind of regulation, Larew said that at this point, markets in meat and poultry have become consolidated to a point at which the prices that farmers receive are no longer tied to the “true marketplace.” That reality is increasingly impacting the public. “As bad as it is for farmers and ranchers, it’s also a huge problem for consumers,” he said. “We have a growing disparity between what farmers are receiving and what consumers are having to pay. And in the middle is where the largest packing plants are seeing record profits.”

Disruptions to meat supply chains in 2020 due to COVID-19 put those disparities in the spotlight. As demand for meat skyrocketed, prices went up at grocery stores. But most ranchers did not get more for their beef, and companies that had to temporarily close plants due to outbreaks left pork producers without income or ways to sell their animals. Meanwhile, meat companies’ profits largely increased. Tyson’s revenue went up 2 percent to $43.2 billion in 2020, and Cargill’s revenue increased by 17 percent to $3 billion in 2020.

In the past, attention to unfair practices between companies and farmers has been focused on the poultry industry because of its structure, in which many contract growers compete against one another for income and often sink into debt. Recently, five top poultry processors have also been under investigation for price fixing. In an email to Civil Eats, National Chicken Council president Mike Brown pointed out that the chicken industry is less consolidated than other animal agriculture sectors and said Biden’s order “looks like a solution in search of a problem

The beef industry may be the most set up for change. Cattle ranchers have long operated independently but are now selling their animals to fewer buyers, and R-CALF has been calling attention to their declining share of the food dollar in recent years. In May, representatives from R-CALF and NFU joined with groups that have historically disagreed on many issues—including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the United States Cattlemen’s Association—to work together on cattle marketplace issues like packer concentration and price transparency. At the end of June, the Senate Committee on Agriculture jumped into the conversation with a hearing “Examining Markets, Transparency, and Prices from Cattle Producer to Consumer.”

Not that farmers and ranchers are blameless themselves and dont exploit others (besides the animals) as well - we can just look into the South at hog farms where local poor black communities are absolutely polluted in every way imaginable (water, air, etc.) By these large hog farm operations, without recompense.

It's not just Big Beef or Big Meat, the entire animal agriculture industry is a giant Charlie Foxtrot of exploitation of animals both the human and non-human variety alike.

All that said, while there are certainly truths in Bidens statement, these things have been around for a long time (though gotten worse recently), and don't entirely explain increased costs like he'd like it to.

[Sparko]

Okay a few things here. I don't eat meat so I don't pay attention to prices. But I'm sure a lot of it has to do with Bidens policies.

We do know that Big Chicken got caught price fixing pretty recently so his statement isn't without merit. I wouldn't be surprised if the large near-monopoly meatpackers that deal with beef and pork (like JBS) are doing the same.

As to exploitingbpeople, of that there is no doubt. The meat industry is based on the commodification of other sentient beings, so it would not be surprising to see them do the same with sentient beings of their own species.

And indeed that is what we see. Meatpackers have to work in horrendous conditions, little to no safety, low pay, and drowning in feces is not uncommon. Just think on that for a minute. Not to mention the exploitation of undocumented workers by these companies..
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/covid-1...acking-workers

https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants...packing-plant/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...oronavirus-war


-
And they are certainly exploiting farmers and ranchers with their near-monopolies.

https://thecounter.org/consolidated-...vid-beef-usda/

https://civileats.com/2021/07/14/jus...playing-field/




Not that farmers and ranchers are blameless themselves and dont exploit others (besides the animals) as well - we can just look into the South at hog farms where local poor black communities are absolutely polluted in every way imaginable (water, air, etc.) By these large hog farm operations, without recompense.

It's not just Big Beef or Big Meat, the entire animal agriculture industry is a giant Charlie Foxtrot of exploitation of animals both the human and non-human variety alike.

All that said, while there are certainly truths in Bidens statement, these things have been around for a long time (though gotten worse recently), and don't entirely explain increased costs like he'd like it to.

I don't want this to turn into a discussion about veganism vs meat or how animals/people are treated/mistreated. You are welcome to discuss that elsewhere. Thanks.

But my question is if they are merely exploiting consumers and jacking up prices, why didn't they do that last year under Trump? There is more to it than greed. And sure the big guys will always want more of the market and try to drive out the little guys. Just that raising their prices is not really the way to accomplish that. Over regulating the industry using the USDA like Cowpoke said, that I can see, but just raising prices to stick it to the consumer would just backfire and let the little guy jump in at a better price. But right now even the little guys have supply chain problems meaning they have to charge outrageous prices also.