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America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

foodandwine.com

81–90 of 247 posts

Re: America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

#81

Time for government cheese again I guess?

I have relatives who run dairy farms in Ontario and they have a quota system. It stabilizes the market tremendously and as a result, they can make pretty big investments on their family farm. The downside, of course, is that consumers pay more.

Re: America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

#82
post #61
post #10

The title of the article states that milk producers are "going bankrupt," but then cites the rising costs of raw milk, which seems like a good thing for a milk producer. So I look up the company on wikipedia and Borden Dairy is a processor & distributor, not a producer. Furthermore, "employee pension obligations" being cited as a primary cause of bankruptcy without any more details raises a red flag for me. This arti…

I keep reading weird stuff from the US about employee pension obligations being a burden on companies, and those savings getting eaten or stolen in all sorts of corporate shenanigans. Are these things really not handled by life insurance companies and subject to all sorts of regulation? That sounds woefully irresponsible.

Most of the time it's seen by management as an expense with no positive business value (they pay out to people that are no longer useful to the company)... Therefore it's a major target for elimination if possible. Bankruptcy is a great way to do this.

If you remember that the "best" leaders from a stock investor (or greedy owner) perspective are psychopaths (lack empathy), and these people actually look really great on paper (lower costs, no/little immediate impact on profits), it's not surprising.

Re: America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

#83
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tucker Carlson had a good segment on one example of private equity destroying a small American town by bankrupting a business that was by all measures doing well. I haven't seen it anywhere else in mainstream media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdwH066g5lQ

Hasn't John Oliver done an item about this a few years ago?

Yes.

Re: America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We use pea milk with our kids because they're lactose intolerant. Pediatrician recommended as long as they're getting more protein and fat elsewhere in their diet (which they do). It doesn't hurt that peas don't care how they're raised and treated to produce milk. Dairy milk is not nutritionally necessary in any age cohort. If you enjoy it, that's fine of course, but it isn't required if you don't.

How did you determine that they are lactose intolerant? Just trial and error, or is there a specific way to confirm this?

I'm truly happy that you are not lactose intolerant. I know you are not intolerant because if you were, that's not a question you'd need to ask. I don't want to be crass, let's just say the symptoms are NOT ambiguous to you or people around you:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lactose-intol...

Re: America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some humans have the necessary genes to digest milk, some do not. Can't lump all mammals together. > Milk contains a type of sugar called lactose, which is distinct from the sugars found in fruit and other sweet foods. When we are babies, our bodies make a special enzyme called lactase that allows us to digest the lactose in our mother’s milk. But after we are weaned in early childhood, for many people this stops. Wi…

Is there a test to determine if you do make lactase?

Rapidly after drinking a glass of milk (or any of the many, many things that include lactose) it becomes very very clear that I am lactose intolerant to both myself and everyone around me.

Re: America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

#86
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hasn't John Oliver done an item about this a few years ago?

Yes.

Can anyone link? As a limey Brit id rather listen to John Oliver then this Tucker chap. (seriously this passes for news?)

Re: America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the messages in that movie really bother me just because it's so unrelatable as a man. Many women I know see it as just a prince charming story and like it because of that. Aside from the corporate raiding married man picking up prostitutes on business travel, I think I'd find it more relatable if there was a world where women were reliably scooping up men while the man's life was in shambles and changing their l…

Would you chase after a fat, ugly, disgusting woman? I'm guessing no unless you were incredibly desperate. Most women are attracted to a man's status and success the way most men are attracted to physical beauty. You don't need a lot of money, but women don't want to hang around with loser.

A 40% of American women are obese, men still chase after them. 2.2 million more women go to collage than men, that’s one of these signs that women slowly becoming the breadwinners is many relationships with a surprising number of stay at home dads (2+ million). In older couples it’s also not that rare for men to be unable to find work near retirement and women end up as the sole income.

Gender stereotypes may have some truth to them, but it’s far less than most people seem to think. Everything else being equal, most women would prefer to date attractive men and most men would prefer to date wealthy women.

Re: America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

#88
post #35
post #10

The title of the article states that milk producers are "going bankrupt," but then cites the rising costs of raw milk, which seems like a good thing for a milk producer. So I look up the company on wikipedia and Borden Dairy is a processor & distributor, not a producer. Furthermore, "employee pension obligations" being cited as a primary cause of bankruptcy without any more details raises a red flag for me. This arti…

If you can't discharge student loans in bankruptcy, you damn well shouldn't be able to discharge pensions you've promised your employees for decades.

Pensions are just deferred compensation, part of the total benefits package (salary, health insurance, etc). They're not entitlements, giveaways, lottery tickets, whatever.

Maybe the most insidious side effect of transition to 401k was tricking people without pensions that somehow pensioners are unfairly compensated.

Re: America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

#89
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some humans have the necessary genes to digest milk, some do not. Can't lump all mammals together. > Milk contains a type of sugar called lactose, which is distinct from the sugars found in fruit and other sweet foods. When we are babies, our bodies make a special enzyme called lactase that allows us to digest the lactose in our mother’s milk. But after we are weaned in early childhood, for many people this stops. Wi…

Then how do cats digest it?

Cats drinking bowls of milk is a TV thing or people who don't know better. Almost all mammals, including humans, lose the ability to effectively process lactose at some point in their life. Keeping the ability to process lactose as an adult is somewhat unique to humans and even then most will stop producing lactase before they die.

Re: America's Biggest Milk Producers Are Going Bankrupt

#90
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep reading weird stuff from the US about employee pension obligations being a burden on companies, and those savings getting eaten or stolen in all sorts of corporate shenanigans. Are these things really not handled by life insurance companies and subject to all sorts of regulation? That sounds woefully irresponsible.

Most of the time it's seen by management as an expense with no positive business value (they pay out to people that are no longer useful to the company)... Therefore it's a major target for elimination if possible. Bankruptcy is a great way to do this. If you remember that the "best" leaders from a stock investor (or greedy owner) perspective are psychopaths (lack empathy), and these people actually look really great…

That's exactly why it shouldn't even be on the company's budget. They should pay for it to an insurance company while the employee works there, and once the employee doesn't, the insurance takes care of it. Take the employer out of the equation once they're no longer relevant.
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