America's Meat Shortage Is Self-Inflicted and FixableHow can it be that with so much cattle in America, we sometimes can't buy meat?
JOHN STOSSEL
7.20.2022
How can it be that with so much cattle in America, we sometimes can't buy meat?
At the beginning of the pandemic, Costco, Wegmans, and Kroger limited purchases of beef. Hundreds of Wendy's outlets ran out of hamburgers.
"How the hell can this be?" says Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) in my new video. "They (Wendy's) were out of hamburger, yet you could see cattle from the drive-thru!"
It happens because of stupid government rules.
Massie owns a small farm in Kentucky. "I'd rather deal with cattle than congressmen," he jokes. "At least (cattle) exhibit learned behavior."
But politicians often don't.
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Today, USDA inspectors do a better job. They test for bacteria. But the inspection process is so cumbersome and expensive, many small companies can't afford it.
The result, complained President Joe Biden recently, is too much market concentration: "Four big corporations control more than half the markets in beef, pork, and poultry!"
His remedy, sadly, is to give your tax money to some smaller meatpackers.
Of course, such subsidies and regulations increase market concentration.
"The bigger the government, the bigger the corporations," Massie points out. "People who don't like big corporations haven't figured that out."
During the beginning of the pandemic, it was that market concentration that caused meat shortages when a few big meat processing plants shut down due to COVID infections.
"We made our food supply brittle," says Massie. "One small disruption throws the whole thing off."
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Source:
https://reason.com/2022/07/20/americas-meat-shortage-is-self-inflicted-and-fixable/
