Soviet Style Price Controls

[patrickt]

"The Fresh Markets grocery chain was selling milk too cheaply in Louisiana — and regulators told the company that it was violating state law."
http://www.newsmax.com/US/Laregulators-milk-price/2013/01/26/id/487520#ixzz2JDkMRtz5

I thought this went out with President Roosevelt and the USSR but price controls are alive and well in Louisiana. Gov. Jindal needs to take a look at this. We would want poor folks buying milk cheaper than the government allows.

[Chris]

No, the milk industry has been highly protected and subsidized for a long time to keep prices high.

Agricultural Regulations and Trade Barriers (http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/agriculture/regulations-and-trade-barriers): "The U.S. Department of Agriculture imposes extensive regulatory controls on agricultural markets. Some regulations are intended to promote safety and reduce disease, while others restrict commodity supplies and raise consumer prices. The Code of Federal Regulations includes 10,720 pages of rules for the USDA to enforce, covering everything from popcorn promotion to farmers’ markets."

Milking the Customers: The High Cost of U.S. Dairy Policies (http://www.cato.org/publications/trade-briefing-paper/milking-customers-high-cost-us-dairy-policies): "TThe U.S. dairy program, administered through federal and state governments, subsidizes milk production and regulates dairy prices. The current system costs taxpayers more than $4 billion per year in subsidies and adds millions of dollars to the grocery bills of American consumers and to the costs of food product manufacturers."

The Madness of American Milk Prices (http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/madness-american-milk-prices): "Consider the illogic of federal dairy policies. They jack up milk prices for millions of families at the same time that other programs, such as food stamps, aim to reduce food costs. And although federal law generally prohibits cartels, a federal dairy cartel enforces high milk prices. If Coke and Pepsi got together and agreed to hike prices, they would be prosecuted. But with milk, raising prices is government policy."

[Beevee]

It's been reported here that because Congress did not come to an agreement at the beginning of 2013 that the milk subsidy ran out and the price of milk and ancillary products are expected to double in the US.

[Chris]

Just checked and the "milk cliff" was averted early this year: Milk subsidy restored (http://tonawanda-news.com/local/x1746073801/Milk-subsidy-restored).

[pjohns]

No, the milk industry has been highly protected and subsidized for a long time to keep prices high.

Sadly, yes.

Those on the left do not believe in the principle of supply and demand as most others understand it. Rather, they believe in causing an artifical shortage, thereby limiting the supply, so that prices can be kept artificially high...

[Chris]

I'm not so sure it's just those on the left. These subsidies and protections come from both sides. Both are statist.

[Peter1469]

Well if you can't get unpasteurized milk you are wasting your time and health anyway.

[KC]

Well if you can't get unpasteurized milk you are wasting your time and health anyway.

I need to try it. My dad was raised on a farm and he says it took him several years to get used to drinking milk from the grocery store, instead of straight from the cow.

[patrickt]

I need to try it. My dad was raised on a farm and he says it took him several years to get used to drinking milk from the grocery store, instead of straight from the cow.

When my children were young we bought raw milk, made butter and cheese, and the kids learned where milk comes from. Now:

"With no warning one weekday morning, investigators entered an organic grocery with a search warrant and ordered the hemp-clad workers to put down their buckets of mashed coconut cream and to step away from the nuts.Then, guns drawn, four officers fanned out across Rawesome Foods in Venice. Skirting past the arugula and peering under crates of zucchini, they found the raid’s target inside a walk-in refrigerator: unmarked jugs of raw milk."
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/25/business/la-fi-raw-food-raid-20100725

Of course, the LA Times is careful not to mention that these were federal officers. So, be very careful in your search for raw milk. I wonder when the government will outlaw breastfeeding of babies because the milk hasn't been properly treated.

But, I still wasn't aware that we had price controls that said the government set minimum prices.