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The cartel that controls the US meat industry

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Re: The cartel that controls the US meat industry

#111

Post by corinroyal »

Dig1t wrote: post #35

RFK put out a video explaining how this consolidation occurred in the pork industry: https://twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/16865387973102428... It was basically a case of a politician, Wendell Murphy, who helped pass 28 laws making it illegal to sue a factory farm, then left office and went into partnership with Smithfield Foods, a Chinese-owned company (which according to Wikipedia was "the largest Chinese acqu…

I'm not sure I'd want to admit in public that I follow RFK Jr. If he said it, it's unlikely to be true.

Re: The cartel that controls the US meat industry

#112

Post by lotsofpulp »

acover wrote: post #47
Buttons840 wrote: post #43

The word "monopoly" implies one dominant company ("mono-" meaning one), but industries with 2 or 3 companies are still unhealthy for a few reasons. First, it's pretty easy for 2 or 3 companies to price fix, which is against anti-trust laws. Second, a healthy market requires that it be easy for new companies to enter the market and compete, and if there's only a few dominant companies, then clearly new competitors are…

Is there a way to detect price fixing? For example in a competitive market everyone has the same price. But the same is true with price fixing.

In a competitive market, profit margins are low because sellers are fighting for customers.

If you are price fixing, then obviously you want to earn more profit, and hence profit margins would not be low.

Re: The cartel that controls the US meat industry

#113

Post by arrosenberg »

Buttons840 wrote: post #43

The word "monopoly" implies one dominant company ("mono-" meaning one), but industries with 2 or 3 companies are still unhealthy for a few reasons. First, it's pretty easy for 2 or 3 companies to price fix, which is against anti-trust laws. Second, a healthy market requires that it be easy for new companies to enter the market and compete, and if there's only a few dominant companies, then clearly new competitors are…

It's easier if you paint the company behavior as "monopolistic" rather than the company as being a monopoly.

Re: The cartel that controls the US meat industry

#114

Post by declan_roberts »

Moving to the country has really opened up my eyes for food production, especially meat.

There are so many small farmers here that are basically shut out from the economy because of impossible USDA guidelines. And we're honestly supposed to believe that mega meat processing plants are somehow better for us? It's delusional.

Call your representative and ask them to support the PRIME act.

https://ij.org/initiatives/food-freedom/prime-act/

Re: The cartel that controls the US meat industry

#115

Post by HDThoreaun »

mandmandam wrote: post #67
hnboredhn wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not too in the weeds on this particular issue, but it seems not that crazy to me that "the biggest four companies" produce 55% of the US's chickens. Presumably that means there is much more than four who register in at above a couple percent nationally and possibly even at a local level different players. Its also for one market. While I eat a lot of chicken, I could substitute it for other foods or meats. To be…

> That seems like more competition than at any point in human history. I think your intuition is very wrong on this one. And since there are clear signs of price fixing which you haven't addressed, it's pretty irrelevant.

There really aren't clear signs of price fixing. At least not in this piece.

Re: The cartel that controls the US meat industry

#117

Post by veave »

r3trohack3r wrote: post #14

A reminder that Tyson is abusing the legal system to force people in the American south into working in their chicken plants for free: https://revealnews.org/article/they-thought-they-were-going-... I don't know every brand that uses Tyson products, but when I discover something is coming from a Tyson factory I stop purchasing it.

>McGahey was 23 with dreams of making it big in rodeo, maybe starring in his own reality TV show. With a 1.5 GPA, he’d barely graduated from high school. He had two kids and mounting child support debt. Then he got busted for buying a stolen horse trailer, fell behind on court fines and blew off his probation officer.

Yeah, you weren't going to make it big either in rodeo or anything else.

Re: The cartel that controls the US meat industry

#118

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

strictnein wrote: post #60

Maybe the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet, but how can this be true: > Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS USA Holdings, and National Beef have gained control of roughly _85%_ of the total hog, cattle, and poultry processing market If the bar chart that follows that has the following information: > Percent of meat supply processed by the "big 4": - Beef: 73% - Pork: 67% - Chicken: 54%

Possible resolutions are the fact that the size of the processing market is measured in $, not percent of meat processed, as well as Simpson’s paradox.

Re: The cartel that controls the US meat industry

#119

Post by ROTMetro »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #99
wonderwonder wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather go to prison. Take the gamble, at least prison has time off for good behavior and over crowding. This program looks like its designed to drain you of everything for as long as possible.

Pretty sure refusing to work when given the option is itself not considered "good behavior." It's one of the ways they coerce inmates into working those $0.12/h jobs.

You can get a shot for refusing to work. This can impact good time and will impact your points. Higher points mean you get sent to a higher security (which ironically means less secure/safe for the inmate) facility.

Re: The cartel that controls the US meat industry

#120

Post by freejazz »

declan_roberts wrote: post #114

Moving to the country has really opened up my eyes for food production, especially meat. There are so many small farmers here that are basically shut out from the economy because of impossible USDA guidelines. And we're honestly supposed to believe that mega meat processing plants are somehow better for us? It's delusional. Call your representative and ask them to support the PRIME act. https://ij.org/initiatives/foo…

lol what? I live in NYC and buy from small upstate farms from my butcher that only sells pastured meats... the USDA doesn't seem to be a problem for them at all
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