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Guest Post: A Louisiana Grocery Store Is Forced To Raise Milk Prices By State Regulators
Via Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
You might have to read this post twice to make sure your eyes didn’t deceive you. This article is actually completely different from my recent pieces on stealth inflation, but is even more infuriating. In this case, a grocery store called Fresh Markets decided to sell milk at a bargain basement price as part of a promotion, yet the state has deemed the price “too low.” As a result, the chain is being forced to raise the price. Yep, at a time when millions are struggling every day to make ends meet, this is what the state of Louisiana has decided it a priority that the cost of milk is higher for consumers in the state. This is exactly what happens when bureaucrats exert to much influence in our daily lives. From the Daily Caller:
Louisiana state regulators recently cracked down on a supermarket chain’s weekly promotional deal because it was selling milk too cheaply — which violates state law.
The upscale Fresh Markets was selling gallons of milk for $2.99 as part of a weekly promotional deal. Louisiana requires that retailer price markups be at least six percent above the invoice and shipping costs of the product.
“They can sell it six percent over cost all day long. It’s when they sell it below cost that it becomes a problem,” State Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain told The Advocate.
After getting a complaint about Fresh Market’s promotional deal, Strain’s office sent an auditor to a French Markets store.
At least one Fresh Market shopper was outraged when he found that the state government had intervened to control the store’s milk prices.
No one can seem to put a banker in jail, but sell milk too cheap and regulators are all over you. What a disgrace.
Full article here.
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"No one can seem to put a banker in jail, but sell milk too cheap and regulators are all over you. What a disgrace."
Hasn't anyone told you yet that laws don't apply to banksters?
Just wait until Moo-veOn.org here's about that.
Udder-ly ridiculous.
Family dairy farms being shut down by fuck tards. - http://www.dailypaul.com/272295/morningland-dairy-raw-milk-cheese-raided-another-family-business-destroyed-1-25-13
America = Dead Man Walking!
Well, government officicals can probably still buy the cheap milk.
http://www.ibtimes.com/government-officials-can-still-own-assault-weapons-under-feinstein-bill-1039506
I would give the chick that drew me in to this post my milk for free...
I'd have her give me some...
You worrywarts just need to start eating more soybean oil. That'll fix ya!
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/01/27/soybean-oi...
Fascism at work.
Progressive Collectivism. A subtle mix of folly and corruption.
“They can sell it six percent over cost all day long. It’s when they sell it below cost that it becomes a problem,” State Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain told The Advocate.
Uh, care to explain WHY that's a problem? Why can't they charge whatever they want?
You didn't milk that.
my fav post of 2013 so far
hahahaha
you didn't milk that.....
look up milk subsidies for milk producers X miles away from city centers....
milk doesn't do you body good....it is just liquid fat. it is unnatural for old people to consume (lactose intolerance)
just drink water.
can't make cheese, or butter without milk... [OH ~ WELL, MAYBE YOU CAN THERE GEORGE JETSON]...
so milk producer subsidies = subsidies for the entire dairy industry
enough fat poor people already in America. They can live with less cheese and butter. Save on healthcare costs.
We the people are the government's new milk cows
Best post ever!
Redpill, the answer to your question is because Fresh Market's low prices are bad for big corporations' business. Guess that small company can't offer much in "political donations" to the crooks occupying Louisiana local offices. Free lobbyist market is all that's left of capitalism's free markets and these fasci symptoms are getting more and more prevalent throughout the developed world!
Ask SuddenDebt how farmers in Belgium feel...
The "Competition" doesn't like that
hayden sez 'wazzup'
http://generationbass.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/hayden-got-milk.jpg
"i think milk is an incredible thing to put in your body"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj5ezG194Gc
take *that* all you haterz who think that milk should not be put into the body
I'm betting any number of ZH'ers would like to put their incredible thing in her body...
Time for lactating, single moms to step in and provide an alternate market solution
Can't do that. Where would you put the picture of a missing child?
A clear violation of the "Anti-dog-eat-dog" laws.
I'm waiting for Atlas to shrug...the moochers and the looters are making their presence known...it's fucked up.
What's to come may put anything that could have come out of Ayn Rand's imagination to shame.
We've already been through on Dark Age. I suppose it's about time for another.
the brilliant william donald schafer the blatimore mayor than govenor, put a floor under gas that it cannot be sold below cost..not fair he says...so as these deep pocket super stops, farm store, wawa. that are typically within view of each other, would probably engage in gas wars to attract the coffee buyer.....nope....but now with gas taxes so important to these busted blue states dwindeling. they would just steal those savings by more taxes at the pump and wholesale level....
Mention this to one of my collectivist atheistic stateist uber-liberal golf buds and his answer was ....
Are you ready?
You sure?
Get ready.....
Need some more regulations about it.
(testes feel very strange sensation whenever I hear something like that....)
That's Louisiana in a nutshell, for sure. Collectivist atheistic stateist uber-liberal.
Is that a picture of becky Quick after Warren .........no tell me it ain´t so...
How about a milk adverisment poster with Becky Quick sporting a white upper lip saying...
"Got Warren?"
because they sold raw dairy... big brother will never allow raw dairy... because, quite simply, it is good for you.
EPA- considers milk spills hazardous waste?
http://www.hotair.com/archives/2011/02/05/epa-to-regulate-dairy-milk-spi...
nice!
have you smelled sour milk?
That is utterly fucking heartbreaking.
Not to mention infuriating.
Didn't you know that "DC" stands for "Dairy Council"?
Those state regulators really get on my teats!
God gave us bankers. It's listed somewhere in the constitution that we were blessed withj them, classifying them as an inalienable right. It's God's work they're doing.
What do you suppose would happen if you put a "Name that Government Official"? I'm betting that some farmer might run his manure spreader accross his front lawn a few times .... just to show him what's in store for him.
Tyler, put a name on that IDIOT!
The 99centsonly stores have been selling milk for $2.99/gallon for a while now. Staters Brothers sells gallons of milk for $2.89. I guess they need to be shut down as well.
yep, the milk cartel, also the gov. goes after raw milk sellers and drinkers. Where I work we have Milk Monday's.
Vid on FDA going after raw milk producers for sale, making them dump their milk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMfQXxVAPgk
You should see the movie Farmageddon. It's a crying shame what those bastards do to honest people. Eventually somebody's gonna get pissed, and we'll see Waco all over again.
Not a threat...just a prediction. And I'm no Nostradamus.
don't be so afraid of big brother
Ya, but this time, lets hope it's not a bunch of petifile, religious lunatics, having delusions of Christ returning, and hope its just dozens of law abiding, average hard working Americans, that have been pushed to the limit! If the government EVER makes the mistake of getting into a stand off with these types in the central Midwest, this would be the spark, that sets this bitch ablaze!!!
I can promise you, if they ever do this, thousands if not tens of thousands of armed farmers and blue collar men, would converge on that site within hours! The Feds and State would be overwhelmed so fast, they would think they were in Iraq again!!!!
What makes you think they were religious lunatics at Waco? To my recollection, it didn't matter if they were worshiping grasshopers according to the Bill of Rights.
Let's hope you're correct about the tens of thousands, but if they can demonize the families at Waco, they can demonize any dozen or so farmers and have the public crying for their scalps in record time. Think: MSN propoganda.
The only way something effective will get done is for a massive revolt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_incident
RIP Chingachgook
Competition not being allowed in a red state? I thought the GOP was all about free markets?!?! < sarc off >
Competion is good until somebody more connected than you starts losing.
exactly.
Right, +1 from me
Result of the agricultural lobby bitchez!
And aside from Dairy Products, What happens if 30% of the population begins growing their own food?
FDR. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.
bobby jindahl is a bitch
We haven't had free markets in our lifetimes.
Thanks captain obvious (That's what the sarcasm flag is for).
Typical progressive argument - our president is a pompous clueless ass but republicans are too - na na na na they both suck and we need to join together and fight this idiocy
Only an idiot would believe a progressive is in favor of true competition. Do you have something of value to contribute, or simply trolling? Oh damn...
Doesn't anyone see the opportunity here? C'mon, we've all dealt a little a little weed in the past, in junior high or something. Black market milk has to have some profit potential. The raw dairy can't sell its milk on the open market, so it has to unload it at a discount to black market dealers who can then sell what is a scarce commodity for a premium... THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY! WIN WIN! (for everyone except "That Hideous Strength" -style death-dealing bureaucrats).
There has been extensive dealing in black-market dairy for years by various granola types, California hippies, and of course those dangerous criminal subversives, the Amish. Raw milk goes for up to $10/gal. And raw milk cheeses enjoy considerable demand and price premiums. There are occasional arrests by gun-toting government thugs, and prosecutions resulting in prison time, which are of course essential price supports.
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/01/27/020311-news-amish-milk-2/
http://www.cityspoonful.com/black-market-for-raw-milk-delivery-thriving-...
Etc.
This would be the state where Jindal is pushing elimination of income taxes and full reliance upon sales taxes. Sure, that might hurt the poor--but they have to start paying their fair share!
Hence, retail milk prices must be enforced. How else can croney capitalists get their fair prices?
These people been on the teat too long.
Worrying about milk prices and not a word on the salt dome collapse in bayou corne -
These laws stem from the unintended consequences of allowing public traded corporation charters. A retailer, becoming unnaturally large and politically influential, enters a new market, and has the wherewithal to sell product below cost for a sustained period and drive out smaller competitors, becoming a monopoly.
The other reason to sell product below cost is chicanery. Using the lost leader on price sensitive items to lure in suckers, and then nail them with the blind items.
The law actually protects the local merchant, and local buyer.
So low prices are bad for consumers? Got it.
The only way a monopoly can be maintained, in a strictly voluntary environment, is by contuing to offer prices low enough for 100% of consumers.
The Empire's self destruction is always in the details.
I always get a kick out of politicians setting prices for some reason.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/09/how-a-young-dick-che...
I'll bet you Walmart is the company that pitched a bitch. Around here Aldi's milk price is a lot cheaper than Walmart's. If you buy milk at Walmart and tell them you want Aldi's price they will honor it, but I'm sure it's a bite in their shorts.
Aldi is great-$1.79 a gallon by me.
That's the same price here. I do 90% of my shopping at Aldi's. Everything except produce and a few brand names that I like.
produce is the same or better and my $ goes back to Der Vaterland. those hillbillies in Benton AR can blow me-although they have good ammo prices(if you can find it)
The produce Aldi's has here is okay but not great...for that I try to support the local farmers or I go to Meijer. I'm like you I will avoid Walmart if at all possible. I can't stand looking at the zombies shuffling around.
$1.89 this weekend at Aldi... Bought 2 gallons & made a wheel of parmesean cheese [for 2014]... Accidentally left a little whey in a bowl out & found a drown mouse in there in the morning... Hope the little sucker died happy... Tossed him out into the yard & the birds had him within 15 minutes...
See?... A FREE MARKET economy actually does exist if you cut the bankers out...
~~~
Not to mention that Aldi is a half mile closer to the francis_sawyer homestead than WAL MART...
What city? Its $2.39 at Aldi in Grand Prairie, TX
East of the Mississippi... [too long of a drive to save the extra 50 cents]... But, closer to your point, it's all dairy farms around here, so I imagine that has something to do with it... Never asked... I buy hay & manure from one of the dairy farmers right by...
Good God! That's like half price! Do you live right on the farm? ;-)
Well, it's likely not more than a quarter milk.
Aldi here is $2.49, and the produce is as good or often better than major name grocery chains.
lol, us Canadians pay as much as $8 a gallon for milk. Consider yourselves lucky.
Aldis has the best prices. Buy all your canned food there and stock up and save.
that should be their new tag-line-"The Prepper's Favorite"-of course then the US would shut them down
Around here, the Aldi stores had milk at $1.69 a gallon for the holidays. Now it's up to $1.89.
Makes my homemade kefir pretty cheap.
+1 for making your own Kefir.
Thanks.
Seeing as though my cells are outnumbered ten to one by my bacterial guests, I do what I can to have the most beneficial guests.
+1. But your cells are the guest. I do what I can to make my flora happy.
Same here.
Recently I read that some bacteria on your skin can benefit the immune cells there.
Is it 1932 again?
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/money_11.html
http://www.budgetfilms.com/clip/13548/
Wait until price supports (farm subsidies) are removed. Then you'll see some real bitching.
fuck everybody-if you can't afford something without subsidies then tough shit(or just die)
I see alot of champagne socialists are down-arrowing me
You get + from me. Freedom is painful, but sweet. If you don't work, you don't eat.
Why buy the cow when you can.... oh crap, thought this was the Buffet/Quick caption thread.
mckee FTMFW
Or conversely, from Becky's perspective, "Why buy the pig when you can get the sausage for nothin?"
a sad commentary on the priorities of state officials - officials who are employed to serve the people of their state. I would like to think they will get their cumuppence, but that's probably not going to happen
Got price controls?
With all the homrones and anti bacterials is it really milk anymore, just call it a milk flavored beverage probelm solved.
A milk inspired drink
You mean malk?
http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/malk.jpg
As for milk, this book will cure you of it.
The Untold Story of Milk
http://www.newtrendspublishing.com/USOMilk/
Usually seemingly stupid regulations like this have a way of being there because of some extremely blatant manipulation of the system in some forgotten past. A lot of labor rules are like this. They sound completely idiotic until you learn WHY THEY WERE ENACTED! Typically, because the EMPLOYER tried to screw everyone, customers, employees, community, etc, over and this one seemingly stupid rule put a stop to it.
So before you get your libertarian panties all up in a twist, dig a little deeper. Having said that, I've never met a libertarian that's been afraid to look stupid.
I hope you are one of the following:
a) a professional troll
b) short your prescription SSRIs
c) joking
ps: not everyone here is a libertarian.
libertarians dont wear panties, they like to be "free"
I guess that means we can put you down for the starve the poor camp.
"I had to abandon my free market principles in order to save the free market"
-- Dubya
Seriously, though, do you see the disconnect in your post above? The idea that rules apply to one group of people (i.e., citizens) but not another group of people (the government)
Do you suppose the disconnect invites all kinds of corruption?
Yeah, because price controls work so fucking well at achieving their stated intention. LOL
As for your intent, Poe's Law requires further study...
I took the whole 3 minutes to google this for you knuckleheads. Louisania Dairy Stabilization Board Rules and Regulations state, under Disruptive Trade Practices, that:
No person engaged in the processing, production, manufacture, distribution or sale of dairy products shall discriminate between different sections, communities, cities, or localities in the state by selling such dairy products at a lower rate in one section, community, city, or locality, than is charged for the dairy product by such person in another section, community, city or locality, after making due allowance for the difference, if any, in the grade or quality of the dairy product and in the actual cost of transportation of the dairy product from the point of production, if a raw product, or from the point of manufacture, if a manufactured product, where the effect of such discrimination may tend to harm competition. All sales so made shall be prima facie evidence of the unfair discrimination prohibited hereby.
So, I'm going out on a limb here, but given that Fresh Market has stores outside of Louisiana that weren't selling below cost, this triggered a rule intended to prevent monopoly practices.
So, I stand vindicated. Because some local asshole of the past fucked with a basic commodity that wreaked havoc on the people and businesses of Louisiana for fun and profit, a law was enacted to put a stop to it. Fast forward to the iphone era where idiots who grew up under Reaganite brainwashing are now railling against the very infrastructure and institutions that were enacted to protect them in the first place.
Futher information for the literate: http://theadvocate.com/news/opinion/5044357-123/letter-dairy-action-requ...
Had a similiar issue with Walgreens a while back. They were selling milk real cheap to get people in the store. The gov's master WalMart complained and of course they quietly told Walgreens to get in lockstep. Fucking bureaucrats can all suck my dick if they want milk
"Fucking bureaucrats can all suck my dick"
Men will put their dicks anywhere...Jesus.
Ms. I guess some men will hit anything but there are some things just too ugly.
http://www.returnofkings.com/2099/the-9-ugliest-american-feminists
I grew up three blocks from this Perkins Rowe thing in Baton Rouge. It was at Perkins and Bluebonnet.
The whole Perkins Rowe thing was a corrupt as it gets. It was built post Katrina during 2006. A shit ton of money from the CMBS bubble and relocating New Orleans folks moving up after they realized NOLA was f-ed.
The place is the antithesis of cultural life in Louisiana. Big corporate box stores, selling high end furniture and "organic" food with a "Towne Centre" mixed use urban planning. It's southeast Louisiana: if it doesn't revolve around A/C and LSU football, forget it. The place was foreclosed on with 5 years. Contractors not paid. Unfinished buildings. Shitty construction.
Just put that cheap milk in perspective. A project gone bad trying to get people to come back to the area. Sad. But typical Louisiana.
no offense- but the french penchant for corruption still runs deep in LA
@otto skorenzy
Do you consider the The City a "French" possession? What about Wall Street? Is that too "French" for you? I didn't know Goldman Sachs or any of the other banks was "French". Was it a French cabal that conspired to suppress LIBOR rates? Give me a break, no race or ethnicity has a lock on corruption.
what in the fuck are you talking about? I saw your other post pissing and moaning about "loss leaders" and dumbfuck LA dairy farmers that need the LA govt to keep other states' milk out and other such socialist claptrap-it explains alot
@otto skorzeny
I really don't care what New Jersey's (or any other state) laws are for the retail sale of milk or any other products. When I visited New Jersey on business, I was forced to use self service to refuel my rental car. That's how they did it in New Jersey. Was that stupid? Hell yeah. So, I just avoid New Jersey as much as I can. If you only had 24 hours in the day to devote to one task, would you rather lobby for the removal of federal farm subsidies or the repeal of a stupid Louisiana law?
Like either activity has any chance in hell of doing anything.
In the past I have tied my walking stick to the outside of my backpack. At that time I could still take it into the cabin as carry on luggage, but I have trusted it to the luggage crews more than once too. My stick did not stick out past the top of the bag and sat in its own small pocket at the side of the bag, with several straps around it. If you take a suitcase or backpack that is big enough to pack it inside, you best do that. And if you do not trust it in checked luggage, contact your airline or the TSA and check whether you are allowed to carry it into the plane with your hand luggage. The rules for that do change all the time now. Thanks. Removals Cheltenham
That's great. But the French influence is like 1/6th of the mix in Louisiana. Plenty of German, Irish, Italian influences in the big cities. In parts of New Orleans, you'll hear an accent close to Brooklynese with a "y'all". I thought they were making fun of me when I first heard it.
It's not anymore corrupt than central New Jersey. It just has a reputation for it.
Louisiana really made a serious run a fascism in the 1930s under Huey Long. It's really a fascinating history if you get a chance to skim through it. The Public Private Partnership model and the train of abuses and crony contracting that went with it. It was too in your face for northeastern WASPs to handle.
@Catullus
Thank you for attempting to explain a very diverse state. Another example is that the "French Quarter" is the best showcase for 18th century Spanish architecture. And New Orleans did have a huge populations of Irish and German. One thing united New Orleans prior to 1960: a shared Catholic religion. One good thing about "Duck Dynasty" is that I can point to that and show people that Louisiana probably has more "rednecks" than "coonasses". It's a gumbo of a lot of ethnicities for sure.
if you are using 'Duck Dynasty" for support for an argument about anything-you have already lost.
@otto skorenzy
That's the best you can do? Everyone knows the "reality" show is scripted, but do you not get that French ancestory in Louisiana accounts for probably only 25% or less of the state? Half the state population is of African origin.
...
@ Catallus-who the fuck said I was from the NE or a WASP- more like your sterotypical southern inferiority complex showing through
Are your reading comprehension skills showing through: who the fuck said you're from the NE or a WASP?
Yep. A Frenchman named Weiss assassinated Huey Long for being a proponent of debt-free money. Frenchmen hate debt-free money.
@Catullus
The construction was crap, but moderately better than Jimmy Swaggert's dorms (within a stone's throw) that laid unfinished for decades.
Those things were great. I haven't been back since 2010. I don't even know if they're still up.
It was such a waste given that they could have been converted to a hotel easily.
They are still there. I just passed by them looking for some ammo hehe.
Got control?
Price floors: the nouveau "hidden tax".
Louisiana, the land of six fingered look alikes.
–Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics (3rd Edition, Basic Books, 2007), p. 56.
LOOK EVERYBODY, MAD COW!
"They Hate Our Freedom."
I live in Louisiana and this story is overblown. This would be a news story if it existed in a vacuum. But there are many more farm subsidies at issue here. And there are many more non-competitive practices in the diary industry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_Income_Loss_Contract
Besides, anyone every hear of "loss leaders"? It's not as though Fresh Market was being charitable; they were expecting to profit on other items that were commenserately overpriced to make up for the loss on the milk. Fresh Market's promotion is a sales gimmick. The law was enacted, like many state laws regarding milk, to protect Louisiana farmers from cheaper imports from other states. A Louisiana retailer is not suppossed to sell milk for less than cost plus 6%. I honestly don't know how cost is determined because milk prices here vary by about $2. As a consumer, I want to buy the highest quality milk at the cheapest cost. The Louisiana law adding 6% to the "cost" is not the biggest issue.
So what if they're selling milk as a loss leader?
Exactly! There is no business that does not do this. Go to Staples and buy a printer and you are getting it close to cost for MFG + small retail markup. They make much more on the toner/ink refills. All advertising is manipulation in some form or another. Hell the government is the worst one.: selling idol promises for votes and pandering for kickbacks like the 30B in pork in Sandy relief bill.
@Chump
It's a matter of scale. I wouldn't waste my breath worrying about the Louisiana law when there are larger, more influentials laws that have a greater impact on milk prices nationwide. It would make as much sense to focus on the Louisiana law as oppossed to the federally fund price supports as it would to argue that Republicans are better than Democrats. Remove the farm subsidies, then let's talk.
Cursive - You are missing the point. It's not about the price of milk. It's about the inability of a market to operate without intervention.
@mayhem_korner
No, the point is that the entire farm industry is built on federal government regulation, bureaucracy and price controls, but the masses are easily distracted from the true issue by a story about one state law that affects, at most, 4 to 5 million people.
the point is that the entire farm industry is built on federal government regulation,
Let's be clear: NOTHING is "built...on federal government regulation"; government regulation constrains, reduces, and devalues - it builds NOTHING.
@mayhem_korner
I doubt that Monsanto, ADM or Conagra, to name just a few, would exist in their current and highly profitable forms if not for the protections provided by our federal government. I understand and agree with your Smithian free market stand, but governments can run industries through a command economy. I'm not advocating a command economy and we all understand that closed systems such as a command economy will eventually fail, as it did in Soviet Russia. However, it is possible, even if inefficient, for a government to build an industry.
You need to go reread this thread with the realization that m_k is making the exact same argument as you.
Protip: Don't use the word "built" when you don't mean it.
kthxbye
Ding ding ding ding... BINGO!!!
Is it right for a large corporation to build stores all around a competitor, and sell goods at a loss in order to drive the competitor out of business? Then crank the prices up once they have a monopoly?
And before you get into garbage about people will go elsewhere, in many places there is only so much space for supermarkets, and people can only practically travel so far to get goods. Put another way, do you support the coal mining company store model?
Seems to be the effect of the affordable health care act? No?
HIGHLY recommend you research DOW Chemical's reaction to a German megacompany's attempt to bully DOW out of the market.
A good (short) summary available in the "Early History" section here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Chemical_Company
On a larger scale, your first question is a false dichotomy because it ignores the many avenues available for business.
With some goods, sure, if your competitor is selling at a loss, you can purchase the goods then sell them again. Or just keep buying them at the loss price to bleed them out, unless their pockets are much deeper than yours. Eventually you have to turn a profit.
One of the fast food places, I want to say McDonald's, tried to buy a guy out and he said no so they built something like 6 McDonald's each within a few blocks of his, and sold at a loss until he went broke.
You cannot buy hamburgers and resell them. You cannot move a restaurant. What do you do?
I'll echo mayhem above me. Yes, it's all a problem, but this happens to be a perfect visual of the end result of progressive government interference and intervention in the market. Debating and analyzing farm subsidies is not a conversation most people want to have, but it's a primal thing to be told your voluntary transaction is illegal due to a pen stroke from some faceless bureaucrat or committee decision. You don't need to know which round of QE we're on to know that that is total horseshit.
I'm not worried about this story. I'm not surprised by it in the slightest.