Price-Hiking Scheme Hidden In Farm Bill Would Constrict Dairy Production (gallon, Congress)

[CheyDee]

Snippet:

"In the midst of this lingering recession, Americans may have doubts about what Congress can do to help repair the economy – but very few would expect Congress to do something intentional to drive up the price of our milk, a classic indicator of economic health and the buying power of the American family.

Yet, your future trips to the grocery store could prove painful as the price of milk is jacked up, higher and higher, affecting all dairy-related products from pizza to yogurt. That is on top of a 2% increase in food prices over the past year PLUS lost job opportunities and the waste of perfectly good potential resources, all thanks to legislation creeping through Congress.

The culprit is a disturbing, Soviet-style, price-hiking scheme called the Dairy Market Stabilization Program (DMSP). Hidden deep within the nearly $1 trillion “Farm Bill” (the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act), this provision would force dairy farmers to artificially constrict supply."

This bill was first introduced to Congress in 2010 by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I, VT), and was co-sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D, VT) and Sen. Patty Murray (D, WA), but was not enacted. It's back on the table again.

People seem to think Democrats are for the "average" people, but who will this hurt the most? Lower and middle income people, of course.

Why is our government meddling in everything? (That's a rhetorical question.)

[Tilt11]

Just think, they aren't done meddling. Laws, rules, regs. They can't ever have enough.

Remember, if this country is to ever fall, it will be our own doing. These politicians who think they're so smart and know so much more than everyone else, could easily be the ones to bring this country to its knees.

[Cascadian Inserection]

There is a reason that there are so few independent dairies left in this country. That reason is that the price per gallon of milk that most people pay costs less than the cost of a small dairy to produce it. For dairies to be profitable, a necessary condition in a capitalist economy, the price of milk must increase.

[CheyDee]

Originally Posted by Cascadian Inserection

There is a reason that there are so few independent dairies left in this country. That reason is that the price per gallon of milk that most people pay costs less than the cost of a small dairy to produce it. For dairies to be profitable, a necessary condition in a capitalist economy, the price of milk must increase.

Every business owner needs to determine the price point at which s/he should market his/her product. The government forcing dairy farmers to artificially constrict supply should not be part of the equation.

[HappyTexan]

Don't you recall when they were dumping milk because of oversupply and low prices ?
People don't drink as much milk as they used to.

Government manipulating supply and demand.

[GregW]

I would prefer the production restrictions only applied to the "mega daires" and smaller farms encouraged to produce more milk. IMHO we need to reduce industrialized mega farms and encourage smaller farms to stay in business.