Who's for free markets now? Outrage and a bright idea

- 9/4/08

BRIGHT BULB: Proactive duty. Sending members of the Maryland National Guard to Louisiana to aid the hurricane relief effort is a great idea — and we did it before things got so bad they had to beg for help. Let’s make this a practice in future and maybe other states will return the favor the next time Maryland is visited by a disaster — natural or otherwise.

OUTRAGE:
Free market, mad market
WHO: U.S. Department of Agriculture
WHAT: The USDA, which tests only about 1 percent of U.S. beef for mad cow disease, actually blocked a small Kansas meat packer from testing all steers it processes.
WHY IT’S A BAD IDEA: A federal judge just overturned and sent back to a lower court a decision in favor of Creekstone Farms Premium Beef’s 100 percent testing policy. The Bush administration is against Creekstone because huge processors fear if small packers conduct the expensive tests, the market will force them to. Hello? Isn’t that the way the free market is supposed to work? This may be a rare disease with only about 150 human deaths reported worldwide. But with its decades-long latency periods, we don’t really know. Shouldn’t consumers -- not government -- be able to decide whether they want to pay extra for beef that has been tested?
WHY THEY’RE DOING IT: Even a BSE victim could figure this one out. Some meat processors don’t want to compete in a truly free market. They’re for government regulation when it gives them an advantage over enterprising competitors.
Where to help: www.creekstonefarms.com
Where to vent: www.usda.gov

0 Comments