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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Are we going over the milk cliff?

One of the things that might happen if the fiscal cliff negotiations fail is milk prices jumping up in price and perhaps even doubling.  That is because the arcane 1949 law that over regulated milk prices would kick in.
We need to reduce federal involvement in agriculture and ranching...
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: "I do think if we went over the milk cliff it would actually be a good idea. [If] people actually saw the milk price double, it would be less abstract than watching a debt clock. They would finally understand that we have the insane laws, that acquire barnacles over the decades. And the farm laws are the worst. They are all kind of pressure, special interest favors, pay offs which make no economic sense. I'd like to wipe them out and start all over again, and it would be good if the law expired. People would actually be awakened to how insane our system is and how much we really need tax reform. It wouldn't be an abstraction, it would be real."
 We need to allow market forces determine prices, not complex layers of government bureaucracy.  

4 comments:

  1. "I do think if we went over the milk cliff it would actually be a good idea. [If] people actually saw the milk price double, it would be less abstract than watching a debt clock.

    Um, has he been to the grocery store lately? Gah! Everything has doubled if not tripled. I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiment.

    If states ever decided to secede, I would definitely want to be where the farmers are. ;)

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    1. I have noticed. Some of this is the drought combined with more ethanol production. Less production and greater demand. That has made corn and grain prices go up and that drives almost everything else.

      But the insane mess of bureaucratic layers only makes agricultural pricing worse. And while food safety is important, the Department of Agriculture and its rule making is more about protecting Agri cronies (mostly large ag corps) than family farmers. And Obama has gone out of his way, through Department of Labor regs, to drive family farmers out of business.

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  2. Higher milk prices would be good for farmers WI and CA in the long run, the only two states I give a crap about.

    And Obama has gone out of his way, through Department of Labor regs, to drive family farmers out of business.

    That is the one thing you can count on Obama for: orchestrated demise of American families. I suspect that he's beholden to a cabal of childless feminists and militant gays bent on vindiction because after all the man does have a family of his own.

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    1. The 1949 plan that would kick in would artificially inflate the price of milk, but not necessarily for the benefit of farmers. I want to see milk prices reflect actual market forces.

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