Jesus, the idiot is actually trying to be Upton Sinclair now!

Biden is a moron. More specifically, he's a near brain dead potato. But don't make the mistake of thinking all of this is being done by accident, or that he is the one making any decisions. He never has been.

https://www.drovers.com/news/beef-production/profit-tracker-huge-packer-margins
Last week beef packers found average profit margins of $519 per head, based on calculations by Sterling Marketing. That was an increase of $75 per head from the previous week, and despite the fact cash fed cattle prices increased $1 per cwt. to an average of $110.

I sell my yearlings this week, don't think they are up much from last year and much below 5 years ago.  Why the smart ass remark on being in business?  Been self employed for over 40 years now and see no reason to be an asshole.

If anyone believes FJB will do any good then why are cattle futures down today?

I'm with you.  
Retail beef prices seem to be up 200-300%.  But that increase is not going to the cattlemen.  

Anytime the Dems use the work "fair", someone is getting fucked.

I don't disagree and it is definitely a huge gamble but one that could also pay off huge.  I'm glad I don't have to be the one to gamble it one way or ths other

Remember, most of the big packers are either partially or fully owned by the Chicoms.

Welp.  There goes salad days of meat....

We’ve stopped eating beef almost completely except for burgers once in a while. We eat more chicken and pork instead.

$30/hr?
Uhm... why are they accepting such low wages?

JBS is a crime syndicate from Brazil, they are the biggest cattle packer.  Kenny Monfort has to be spinning in his grave with what his sons did to his legacy.

That is what pisses me off.  High prices killing the demand, providing the rancher with a future fucking.

OP is correct.

This. Everything agricultural is getting super expensive.

News flash Brandon, bacon is pushing $10 a pound in California and it is not because of greedy Big Meat practices.

He just wants to build them a home, a little place of their own...those damn meat packing glitterati.

... a home for incurable Tysons and Burger Kings.

Government monopoly creates issues with getting a cow to slaughter.  What’s the solution?  More government regulations.

It’s like using cancer to treat cancer.

Please don't make that comparison. They'll start pushing for it!

Right on schedule.

Thank you for the smile. Hit me at the perfect time

Meat packers' profit margins jumped 300% during pandemic

WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Four of the biggest meat-processing companies, using their market power in the highly consolidated U.S. market to drive up meat prices and underpay farmers, have tripled their own net profit margins since the pandemic started, White House economics advisers said.

Financial statements of the meat-processing companies - which control 55%-85% of the market for beef, poultry and pork - contradict claims that rising meat prices were caused by higher labor or transportation costs

Make a guess, Biden will build up the large but not largest meat packets so they wipe out the last of the holds out. Then a few mergers and there will be only one.

Hell I'd just hope it goes to some people to start butcher shops since all the ones around here are booked up for 3 years with appointments. You couldn't even get a beef or hog processed if you wanted to. They weren't even taking deer during deer season.

All the teets on that cow....one for whole milk, 2%, 1% fat free, Chocolate milk and buttermilk!!

Big Meat Packers are oligopoly companies who collude screw ranchers, workers, and consumers. Fuck em. Bring back competition.

Meat Industrial Complex

This sure seems like a political discussion.  Don't we have another forum for that?

Google "right wing insurrection" and get back to me.

Attached File

It will be more like 250%
At least

We have a huge problem with our government in the country, but there are plenty of corporations that are butt fucking the consumer and a lot of people are blaming Biden, when in reality its just money hungry CEOs that can hide behind the COVID shit because people are stupid. Way, way to fucking stupid to look at quarterly and annual numbers to compare something as simple as margins and margin growth.

Having said all of that, Im not 100% what numbers the WH is using. Margin growth has been a thing in the industry but, from my little research, I don't see what they are seeing. Its not nearly as bad as some other areas at the moment. Having said that, doing billions worth of even more stock buy backs in a time when meat prices are sky rocketing is probably not the best look.


Of course the easiest way for the world to handle this is end this bull shit COVID crap and stop giving world governments and world corporations a like the excuse to hide behind. IMO

Oh i want to agree and I want to agree so badly because in theory you are right.

My one argument though is that you are talking in terms of a true free market, and we don't have that.
The .gov is so incredibly happy to get in the way of what you are talking about it isn't funny.


Perfect example, in a lot of cases even if you could raise the capital to fight in some of the hyper-consolidated markets, the .gov is going to quickly jump to big corporates side to block out the competition. Just look at oil. Even if you could find the capital to drill more oil wells, is the US gov going to let you? lol nope. If they let you will it only be after you have the EPA/OSHA etc. etc. so far up your ass they are coming out of your ears? yep.
And i can give you plenty of markets that are the same way.

Want to start an airline and expand out of New York city? Sorry no slots at JFK/LGA. No gates at EWR (and will probably soon be back on a slot program). Want to expand those airports? Sorry nope. Can't go out into the water, EPA wont let you. Can expand into any of the surrounding areas and even if you could it would cost an ungodly amount of money.

So in some cases, I agree but in some cases I disagree. On the topic at hand, does the US have enough chicken/pork/fish etc, to feed everyone to be able to reduce beef consumption enough to get prices in-line? I don't know but im going to guess not. Does the US have the ability, have the governmental support, to grow other industries rapidly to replace the supply of beef? I'm also going to guess thats a big no.

DC and the idiot states need to back the fuck off if they really want to help. But they don't so here we are.

Will there be Equity involved?

For some reason that’s the magic phrase these days

These threads always bring out the Pollyanna free market types.

News flash, we don't have a free-market system and haven't in probably 100 years since the .gov starting sticking their nose into everyone's business.  

Google "regulatory capture" and you will understand a lot about how monopolies and near-monopolies like the meat packing industry are created.

1.  An industry naturally results in some large players.  This is fine but also where things start to go wrong because of the influence of government.
2.  Those large players buy themselves some regulators and politicians to wield like a club against their smaller competitors.
3.  The regulators rig the game with onerous .gov requirements so that only the large players can afford to navigate the system.
4.  Large players buy out the smaller players who can no longer compete effectively because an outsized portion of their profits relative to their size is sucked up dealing with the regulatory burden.
5.  The monopoly is locked in and competition is dead.

What is going on now is just Kabuki theater.  The packers are fine with Brandon thumping his chest.  They are in on the game and know it won't mean shit in the end.

What he actually did do was put us trillions of dollars in debt over his four years...and then ultimately lose to a guy riddled with dementia.

Sorry but this is an incredibly high-school level interpretation of a very complex economic system.

The market isn't always right. Even the most pro-Capitalist economist knows that.

Don't call other people snowflakes while espousing some #basic explanation on the rest of us.

Monopoly power gained over time due to heavy government regulation of the food supply and used to rapidly increase profits isn't free market capitalism and all your capitalizing of sentences isn't going to change that.

Thank you for giving a more college-level explanation to the high-school version I read on the previous page.  I wonder why it's missing all the CAPS

This is bullshit and you know it.  Sure, in a true free market system, things do balance out, but bad regulations, government subsidies, manipulated labor markets, special interests, and crony-capitalism create an illusionary market; and monopolies allowed to eliminate competition are naturally inclined to set artificial prices and neglect quality.

Consumers should be the enforcers of a natural balance, but a corrupt government influenced by special interests and foreign money, and corporations who have bribed big government, have fucked the free market up. To ignore those factors and the impacts on the "Law of Supply and Demand", the free market, and competition is economic ignorance.  

ROCK6

$30 an hour for a senior maintenance mechanic OMG. That’s definitely the problem. Lower wages now!

Get MORE cheap Mexicans in there! Free market!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

That is true in most areas of agriculture--seed, biotech, pesticides, machinery.

Consolidation of corporations reduces competition.

There are only 4 main packers.

No idea what to do about it.  Gov will only make it worse.

One thing about meat packing, it's labor intensive and easy to destroy by unionizing.  Billings used to have two packing plants.

They closed many years ago.

This absolutely the answer. Decentralize everything. The government can still inspect the facilities. But let’s have it like we did back in the early days. There was a butcher or three in every county.

I started raising animals in 2019.  Enough to sell.  I pay my feed bills and my family eats for free year round. Granted I have time in it. But it is a barely profitable small business. Add in tax savings on my W2 job, eating for free year round and end the year with a couple extra thousand after business bills are paid.

Yes, there is meat processor in Cody trying to get licensed for interstate sale of meat.  If it succeeds it will be the only one in WY.

According to the local newspaper.

This seems to be unpossible.  Every so often somebody floats the idea of local meat processing.  I tend to expect these projects to fail

and the organizers to walk away with a chunk of a lot of people's money.

You can't be serious.

The problem with farming and ranching is your customer is your worst enemy.  The beef checkoff ($1/head at sale) is paid by the cow/calf

guy, and mainly benefits the packer and retailer.  And they also fight COOL (country of origin labeling) because it would add to their costs

to keep track of where meat is from (a tiny percentage of meat from other countries is inspected by the USDA).

Yes, and that someone is us proles.