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An investigation into egg prices

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Re: An investigation into egg prices

#31

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

generalizations wrote: post #13
ericjmorey wrote: post #8

Harris and Walz campaigned specifically on addressing the issues raised by this article. People didn't care if they even understood. We have someone that's implementing a kleptocracy instead. This is not getting solved for at least a decade, probably 50+ years before another regime change occurs.

We'll see. We're only a couple months into this 'regime' - might be interesting to try a different strategy for a little while. H&W may have campaigned on this, but there's two things critical to good advertising: offering what people want, and offering it credibly.

> might be interesting to try a different strategy for a little while.

Maybe interesting to you and others largely insulated from the downsides of "a different strategy". Others might not find it so "interesting" at all ...

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#32

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

lxgr wrote: post #29
SoftTalker wrote: post #7

Egg prices are high compared to what they used to cost but still under $1.00 for a two-egg meal. There's not a protein source that's much cheaper, I think the egg producers are exploiting a certain inelasticity of demand. People don't like the price increases but eggs are still very cheap food.

So in your view, potential monopolistic price fixing is not a concern as long as the absolute per-unit numbers are relatively low? By that logic, we’d probably still be paying double-digit cents per minute for long distance calls. (Less than a dollar - a small price to pay to talk to your loved ones across the country!)

which, btw, would also be OK if that was somewhere close to the actual marginal cost of those calls. But of course, it wasn't even in the same universe, let alone ballpark.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#33

Post by drivebyhooting »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #31
generalizations wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll see. We're only a couple months into this 'regime' - might be interesting to try a different strategy for a little while. H&W may have campaigned on this, but there's two things critical to good advertising: offering what people want, and offering it credibly.

> might be interesting to try a different strategy for a little while. Maybe interesting to you and others largely insulated from the downsides of "a different strategy". Others might not find it so "interesting" at all ...

What would the status quo be? Continue to escalate in Ukraine? Pile on more debt?

I can’t see how that wouldn’t lead to debasement and ultimately the collapse of the US hegemony. At least this way we will have TSMC and other local production capacity.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#34

Post by jmyeet »

We see this all the time. There is some shock or reduction to supply and the price goes up but it always goes up way more than the supply change would necessarily warrant. Then it takes forever to return to normal (if it ever does).

Interestingly, in the early weeks of the Kamala Harris campaign last year, she actually advocated to fighting or stopping "price gouging", something that was wildly popular: 66% of respondents on a Harris Poll approved [1]. After bringing on her brother-in-law and the former Biden campaign staff however, she never mentioned it again because Wall Street didn't like it.

Now you will find all sorts of articles online from serious outlets about how price gouging won't work and they'll simply put a bullhorn in front of economists who say that but there is precedent, namely when Nixon put in a freeze on prices and wages [2].

Now one can agree or disagree with such a policy, whether it's a long term fix or not and so on but we can still say the following:

1. There is absolutely opportunistic price gouging going on, way more than the avian flu would otherwise warrant. This is true for so many things beyond eggs; and

2. Life is becoming unaffordable, especially with housing and food. Ordinary people feel this. Politicians who address those issues will resonate with voters; and

3. Gutting the executive branch, which is currently going on, will only make this worse as there will be even less enforcement of price-fixing than there currently is.

[1]: https://theharrispoll.com/briefs/america-this-week-wave-240/

[2]: https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/09/22/nixons-famous-price-...

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#35

Post by myvoiceismypass »

pessimizer wrote: post #14
ericjmorey wrote: post #8

Harris and Walz campaigned specifically on addressing the issues raised by this article. People didn't care if they even understood. We have someone that's implementing a kleptocracy instead. This is not getting solved for at least a decade, probably 50+ years before another regime change occurs.

> Harris and Walz campaigned specifically on addressing the issues raised by this article. No, they didn't. They campaigned on a vague anti-"price gouging" promise while pretending they didn't even know who Lina Khan, Johnathan Kanter and Rohit Chopra were. Harris never made it clear if any of their jobs were safe, her advisor and brother-in-law Tony West was Uber's general counsel, and Mark Cuban, a proxy for Harris…

> They campaigned on a vague anti-"price gouging" promise while pretending they didn't even know who Lina Khan, Johnathan Kanter and Rohit Chopra were.

It’s so absolutely wild what the litmus tests are for each party. Absolutely fucking wild.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#36

Post by jldugger »

teeray wrote: post #11
ericjmorey wrote: post #8

Harris and Walz campaigned specifically on addressing the issues raised by this article. People didn't care if they even understood. We have someone that's implementing a kleptocracy instead. This is not getting solved for at least a decade, probably 50+ years before another regime change occurs.

It does make me wonder what it will take to have a government with an appetite for trust busting again.

Vance was pretty anti-trust, but seemingly more against big tech?

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#37

Post by Marsymars »

bsder wrote: post #30
dm03514 wrote: post #20

First of all I think this article was put together quite well, it was succinct had a great flow and was very easy to follow. The data was laid out to support the case; overall it was great to read. Understanding a problem requires a holistic view of the larger system. An egg producer may say prices are higher Because supply is lower due to culling. Part of that statement is true. The author then zooms out to better u…

> Understanding a problem requires a holistic view of the larger system. It does, but the result is extremely uncomfortable. And the solving it will require actions that are even more uncomfortable. You have to come to grips with the fact that there are monopolies at every single level. There is no inventory anywhere except bottom. There is no over capacity at any level. Consequently, supply and demand simply do not…

> What are you gonna do about it?

Substitute tofu?

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#38

Post by tptacek »

This is kind of an odd article in that it pulls NASS stats for egg-laying pullets to make a case for steady egg production, but NASS publishes a monthly breakdown of raw (dozen) egg production, and if you graph that, you see we've been cruising along at the lowest production rates we've had in over 10 years, despite tens of millions in added population.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#39

Post by francisofascii »

lxgr wrote: post #29
SoftTalker wrote: post #7

Egg prices are high compared to what they used to cost but still under $1.00 for a two-egg meal. There's not a protein source that's much cheaper, I think the egg producers are exploiting a certain inelasticity of demand. People don't like the price increases but eggs are still very cheap food.

So in your view, potential monopolistic price fixing is not a concern as long as the absolute per-unit numbers are relatively low? By that logic, we’d probably still be paying double-digit cents per minute for long distance calls. (Less than a dollar - a small price to pay to talk to your loved ones across the country!)

The OP is providing a potential reason why people continue to buy eggs and are not rushing to alternatives.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#40

Post by crummy »

undersuit wrote: post #28
throwaway173738 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you talking about? If the dems keep to themselves nothing will change.

OK so the Dems successfully brought GOP influence into the party and beat Donald Trump in 2024. What's that... Oh they lost in normal Democratic strongholds?

Did it work in 2020?
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