Angrywoodchucksblog Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I recently saw an article on how the milk industry was killing off cows to engage in price fixing on milk. To anyone who understands the free market this seems ludicrous, it's simply not possible to price fix in a true free market for any length of time before new entrants resolve that problem, with that time being even shorter on something as homogeneous as milk. It did not take long before I began seeing the predictable comments against free markets, similar to, "See? Aren't Libertarians always spouting off about free markets, well this is what happens without government oversight." Knowing it is not possible to have price fixing without government involvement I spent a minute Googling and came across a Reason.com article from a few years ago that asks why we allow the government to fix the floor and ceiling of milk prices in America. Are they related? I think it may be possible. I think a podcast on how and why the milk industry was able to "price-fix" if indeed that was what it even was would be a great show, especially if we are going to be defending free markets now against the "muh milk" offense from progressives. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-08/cow-killing-and-price-fixing-in-your-supermarket-dairy-aisle http://reason.com/archives/2013/09/04/why-is-government-fixing-the-price-of-mi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardY Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 There's loads of ludicrous stuff going on, from the Bloomberg article you linked to it looks like the USA dairy farmers were pooling their resources to try and get a better price from the larger dairy processors. But got screwed over by the more politically powerful dairy processors. What might sound even crazier is that there is cheese smuggling into Canada http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2015/09/18/niagara-cop-found-guilty-of-cheese-smuggling I think their dairy farmer industry is more politically powerful and just to buy a dairy quota for a small farm is over $1 million dollars https://mises.org/library/cartels-and-subsidies-canadian-agriculture Probably thousands of examples of things being screwed up in different industries, can think of a few others such as logging and Maple syrup in Canada, Fish processing in Norway and Iceland as well as the lack of one in England. Horse meat in lasagna.... Might make an entertaining presentation of the different absurdities, kind of only talking about the symptoms though. What might be better, if the state is not going to be eliminated overnight would be to have more local governments. Make California independent or Texas, on a more practical scale have Flanders independent. Maybe there is some other way, but I have a feeling milk is going to be the least of people's worries at least in Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pod Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 This is the cartel argument and cartels are only effective with government. If five guys wanna fix the price of pens, the first guy to break with the cartel and sell for a lower price will make a killing. In this situation you'd just buy from the guys who sell cheaper milk (because they aren't killing their cows). Plus they could use the fact that their competition kills cows as a moral case for why you should buy their product instead. The cost of upholding a cartel is only feasible if you can offset the cost to taxpayers. Imagine Wegmans funding a military operation. Would last maybe... 12 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Mister Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 didn't the hero of central planners, Franklin Roosevelt, actually pay farmers to destroy cattle in order to fix prices? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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