I'm not exactly a strong defender of our kleptocracy.

 

But there's still a problem with the "kill 'em all and let the market sort 'em out" philosophy, and that's the harm done to all the people prior to, during and after a rather large industry crashes and burns. People end up eating diseased food and getting sick, possibly even dying before "market forces" correct and drive these companies out of business*. Many who have no say over shoddy, profit-first management practices will lose their jobs and a major portion of our food supply will be disrupted. These are just a few things springing to mind; I'm sure there are countless more network effects of letting the US beef industry collapse. If you can head that off with strong regulation, why the hell wouldn't you?

 

*I'm being generous with the assumption that this is a reasonable outcome in a large, complex and mostly opaque economy.

 

Well, I'm not saying dissolve the USDA. There should still be government oversight...but if/when these places run into financial issues brought on by being sloppy or repeating the same mistakes, don't continue to rescue them with taxpayer money.

 

The US beef industry will NOT collapse. There are thousands of US cattle farmers, both small and big that will grow to fill ANY void made by those that shut down because they're lazy/sloppy/etc. But they have to be held accountable. How is it being held accountable when you mess up, the cattle industry gets hurt...and then the government just bails you out.

Well, I'm not saying dissolve the USDA. There should still be government oversight...but if/when these places run into financial issues brought on by being sloppy or repeating the same mistakes, don't continue to rescue them with taxpayer money.

 

The US beef industry will NOT collapse. There are thousands of US cattle farmers, both small and big that will grow to fill ANY void made by those that shut down because they're lazy/sloppy/etc. But they have to be held accountable. How is it being held accountable when you mess up, the cattle industry gets hurt...and then the government just bails you out.

 

I am 100% in favor of strong regulations and inspections and not bailing out businesses who can't survive without cutting corners and jeopardizing public health.

Then maybe the government should allow the free market cattle industry to crash and burn, as it should...instead of rescuing it...like it will. Maybe then they'll get the message that they should be more careful with their testing, etc. We point at the cattle industry for being sloppy...but what you need to point at is the government that rescues them when they make the same mistake over and over again.

Of course, the other plausible result of letting that industry crash and burn is that they'll also wind up killing hundreds of unsuspecting people in the process.

Cattle markets aren't too worried. They went limit down yesterday, but are bouncing back again today. last time this happened, they went limit down for days, even going to expanded limits.

In your face vegans!

Lol

Meat consumption per capita around the world.

 

The US is, perhaps surprisingly, not #1.

Now I really want to know what comprises "Other", especially in those countries where that figure is higher.

Dog, lizard, other hoofed animals besides cows and goats.