Robert Reich Is Wrong: 'Corporate Greed' Isn't To Blame for Egg Prices

[Kamaji]

Robert Reich Is Wrong: 'Corporate Greed' Isn't To Blame for Egg Prices

The former labor secretary ignores the avian flu epidemic that devastated the supply of egg-laying hens.

JOE LANCASTER
1.23.2023

Some laws of economics are ironclad. Competition is a natural regulator of economic activity. When demand outweighs supply, prices will rise. And when prices rise, a prominent progressive will blame it on corporate greed.

For much of 2022, the price of eggs rose dramatically, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Even as inflation cooled later in the year, the per-dozen price of eggs exploded, from less than $2 in January to $3.11 by August before cracking $4.25 in December.

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Over the weekend, Robert Reich, a Berkeley professor of public policy who served as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton, tweeted his explanation for the price spike: "Corporate greed."

"Cal-Maine, the largest egg producer in the US, is raking record profits," Reich said, "$198 million in its latest quarter. That's a 65% increase from a year ago."

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Reich is not alone: The industry group Farm Action has called on regulators to investigate egg companies for price gouging. But there is a much simpler explanation for what's happening here.

A widespread avian flu outbreak devastated the poultry industry in 2022, causing the deaths of more than 43 million hens. December egg inventories were down nearly 30 percent from the year before, just in time for the holiday baking season. Under the basic rules of economics, a persistent drop in supply leading into a time of increased demand is bound to have this result.

It is inherently more likely that these fluctuations in prices are driven by market forces than that egg manufacturers all simultaneously decided to charge more. After all, when egg prices plummeted from $2 to $1.32 in mid-2020, Reich did not argue that this was a result of poultry firms' generosity and not a side effect of a giant decrease in demand at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Source:  https://reason.com/2023/01/23/robert-reich-is-wrong-corporate-greed-isnt-to-blame-for-egg-prices/

[roamer_1]

Killing off tons of layers and meat birds has raised demand...
The cost of feed has more than doubled.

They're talking about chicks this spring - normally 2-5 bucks each - costing upward of 20 to 25 dollars each.

But incubators cost the same, so... We will be incubating or encouraging broody hens.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Inputs - food, energy - are more expensive.

Output - reduced by bird flu.

[Sighlass]

Killing off tons of layers and meat birds has raised demand...
The cost of feed has more than doubled.

They're talking about chicks this spring - normally 2-5 bucks each - costing upward of 20 to 25 dollars each.

But incubators cost the same, so... We will be incubating or encouraging broody hens.

My kid works with a crew on occasion dumping baby chicks... Thousands of them... Maybe next time he will ask for a few chicks instead of $$... I got 3 acres here next to the house, might raise a few myself if I can keep the stray dogs from killing them.

[roamer_1]

My kid works with a crew on occasion dumping baby chicks... Thousands of them... Maybe next time he will ask for a few chicks instead of $$... I got 3 acres here next to the house, might raise a few myself if I can keep the stray dogs from killing them.

Look at chicken tractors... Which is what we do for meat birds... Or a chickshaw, with portable electric chicken fence (Premiere One) - Though the portable electric fence is a spendy venture.

Thankfully we were converting away from Cornish Cross toward Red Ryders for meat birds. Maybe Red Cornish or America Brus... Would tend more toward the Brus, I think... But we have a few Ryders we could beef up. Meat birds are going to be the hard part... Though you'll get your fill of roosters raising up natural from broody hens.

Anyhow, chicken tractors are a real good way to pasture chickens. 

[roamer_1]

Anyone looking for alternative might look to raising up quail too... you could quite literally feed a family on the quail you can fit in a 12 foot shed. Crazy prolific birds. And you can keep em in  a tiny footprint.

[Hoodat]

When has Robert Reich not been wrong?  His track record is as bad as Paul Krugman's.

[GtHawk]

When has Robert Reich not been wrong?  His track record is as bad as Paul Krugman's.

I think Reich's opinions have always been just a little short of being right.

[ironhorsedriver]

My kid works with a crew on occasion dumping baby chicks... Thousands of them... Maybe next time he will ask for a few chicks instead of $$... I got 3 acres here next to the house, might raise a few myself if I can keep the stray dogs from killing them.

Dogs are bad, Racoons are the worst.

[jmyrlefuller]

When has Robert Reich not been wrong?  His track record is as bad as Paul Krugman's.

I was going to say.

"Robert Reich Is Wrong"? What else is new?

[Bigun]

When has Robert Reich not been wrong?  His track record is as bad as Paul Krugman's.

   And that is pretty darned bad!

[mountaineer]

Another economic illiterate is Bernie Sanders:

Greg Price
@greg_price11
A presale for tickets to a Bernie Sanders event at the Anthem in DC called "It's Okay To Be Angry About Capitalism" is currently live on Ticketmaster for a price of between $35-$95 lmfao. 😂

1:23 PM · Jan 31, 2023

Greg Price
@greg_price11
He could've AT LEAST not used Ticketmaster, one of the world's worst corporate monopolies, to make the whole thing less ironic.
1:55 PM · Jan 31, 2023

[DefiantMassRINO]

To go along with the rich Orwellian irony, the seats closest to the stage are the highest priced.

Some ticketholders will be more equal than others.

[Ghost Bear]

I think Reich's opinions have always been just a little short of being right.

I see what you did there!