Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

An investigation into egg prices

thebignewsletter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 182 posts

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#41

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

drivebyhooting wrote: post #33
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

The current administration is doing a very fine job ... of collapsing whatever US hegemony still exists.

The status quo would be, for example:

* continuing to honor the social safety net constructed incrementally since 1929

* honoring contracts with overseas organizations

* honoring the 200+ year old understanding that Congress controls spending, creates government departments, and establishes rules for the hiring and firing of government employees

* retaining an understanding of the complex and deeply woven role of the federal government, along with the argument known as "Chestertons fence" (don't tear down a fence till you understand why it was built)

* continuing to structure taxation based on (a) the marginal value of income (b) the concept that the impact of taxation should be roughly equal no matter what your income level is

* resist the expansion of worldwide ideologies that lead to a decrease in personal liberty and/or is accompanied by the use of military force to acquire another nation's territory (we've never been close to perfect on this, but it's nice to have an ideal in mind rather than just dropping any attempt at a morally just world).

Debt is only a problem if you subscribe to heterodox ideas about how national economies with sovereign currencies operate (or worse, imagine that national economies function like household or business economies).

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#42

Post by wakawaka28 »

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.

Sir, Harris did nothing about high egg prices when she was in office. Neither did Biden. They presided over some of the highest inflation in American history. Whether it was their fault or not they didn't do a damn thing to fix it.

What is Trump doing? Promoting imports of cheaper eggs from abroad, if nothing else. He is the first politician this century to make a big deal out of balancing the budget and our imports/exports. This will not be a painless process but something has to be done.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#43

Post by gerdesj »

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…

"The big suppliers can ratchet up prices with zero consequences. What are you gonna do about it?"

If I was that bothered about eggs, I'd simply grow my own. Americans on average have way more space to mess around in than say most Europeans - the place is fucking huge. Chickens are very easy to "grow your own".

I'm not an American and clearly you have managed to get your collective knickers in a twist over a non issue, which almost certainly means that there is a bigger picture and a rather more important issue that really needs fixing.

Please stop fiddling whilst Rome burns.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#44

Post by Centigonal »

Marsymars wrote: post #37
bsder wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Even at $6.50/dozen, eggs are cheaper than tofu, which is $3 for 14 oz where I'm at.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#45

Post by [deleted] »

wakawaka28 wrote: post #42
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.

Sir, Harris did nothing about high egg prices when she was in office. Neither did Biden. They presided over some of the highest inflation in American history. Whether it was their fault or not they didn't do a damn thing to fix it. What is Trump doing? Promoting imports of cheaper eggs from abroad, if nothing else. He is the first politician this century to make a big deal out of balancing the budget and our imports/…

[deleted]

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#46

Post by drivebyhooting »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #41
drivebyhooting wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The current administration is doing a very fine job ... of collapsing whatever US hegemony still exists. The status quo would be, for example: * continuing to honor the social safety net constructed incrementally since 1929 * honoring contracts with overseas organizations * honoring the 200+ year old understanding that Congress controls spending, creates government departments, and establishes rules for the hiring an…

So what I’m hearing is: * Keep all the existing obligations * Continue to run a deficit * Hope that we can finance these growing expenses through treasuries or debasement * all the while ignoring the hollowing out of American industrial base and expertise * also allowing a large portion of the population to become redundant, unproductive, and irrelevant in the world economy

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#47

Post by sras-me »

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…

>"The big suppliers can ratchet up prices with zero consequences. What are you gonna do about it?"

I think one (uncomfortable) solution is this. Consumers should budget their expenses. So when the egg prices increase, they should consume less to maintain their budget for eggs, for example, a month.

This will mean that when the companies increases prices, more of their stock will remain unsold, increasing their expenses stocking them to go up. This could also cause disruptions on their supply chain. This should force them to reduce prices.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#48

Post by bdangubic »

gerdesj wrote: post #43
bsder wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

"The big suppliers can ratchet up prices with zero consequences. What are you gonna do about it?" If I was that bothered about eggs, I'd simply grow my own. Americans on average have way more space to mess around in than say most Europeans - the place is fucking huge. Chickens are very easy to "grow your own". I'm not an American and clearly you have managed to get your collective knickers in a twist over a non issue…

you cannot just wake up and decide to grow your own, it is regulated heavily :)

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#49

Post by rekabis »

almosthere wrote: post #15

It's like with anything else. You can SAY monopolies are illegal, but if you allow them to exist, then owning and controlling the market is, legal. Any small competition that eventually gets large enough will just be bought out by the next one up in the food chain (literally).

And yet, this is the inevitable end-game of unfettered capitalism: to monopolize a market and prevent new entrants so as to eliminate competition and lock-in customers to a single producer that can set prices to whatever they want.

If the orange Cheeto was truly interested in combatting corruption, he would break apart this entire industry clear down to individual factories and processing plants, and implement laws to prevent anyone from ever buying out anyone else. Consolidation would be impossible, only organic growth would still be legal.

Or just put the entire industry under public control by nationalizing the industry. Without investors and CEOs to Hoover up those profits, prices could crater by 80% or more without affecting production or maintenance.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#50

Post by bdangubic »

sras-me wrote: post #47
bsder wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

>"The big suppliers can ratchet up prices with zero consequences. What are you gonna do about it?" I think one (uncomfortable) solution is this. Consumers should budget their expenses. So when the egg prices increase, they should consume less to maintain their budget for eggs, for example, a month. This will mean that when the companies increases prices, more of their stock will remain unsold, increasing their expens…

you said “budget” in the context of America. 93.98% of americans are not finacially literate enough to budget. this is by design…
Post reply on HN