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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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@Chump
Resolved: It is a forgone conclusion that "The Market" (a/k/a "The Free Market") is always right. There is never a need for any type of market regulation because market participants are entirely eithical and rational. It is impossible for anything to go wrong in "The Market" and market participants never try to take advantage of other market participants. It is a lovely thing, "The Market" and some great examples of this beautiful principal in action are the NYSE, NASDaq, the national housing market, gold exchanges etc.
Why are you directing this nonsense at me?
NYSE, the DAQ, are not free markets! They are aggressively manipulated instruments for the the FED to run interference stimulus in a bid to generate 6.5 and 2. Have you not paid any attention to anything anybody has ever written on this subject since the site's inception?
nobody is forcing people to buy other items. sales gimmick or not-the fucking govt should not be telling people how much to sell their goods and services for. and if LA farmers can't figure out how to produce milk more efficiently they should be out of business-period
No one EVER said Fresh Market was being charitable. Loss leader sales occur in/at virtually every retail outlet. The decision to price below cost works something like this: lets drop price and eat the cost on the milk (which has to be sold anyways), making it cheaper for folks to buy something that they need, so that they can turn around and buy something that they want. This is the market in action - sorting out substitution and income effects from relative prices. Its about margins, preferences, and expiry dates! This is what free markets do! And neither the government, or you ought to be concerned about it.
@Pareto
I'm more concerned about the federal subsidies. Why does no one understand that? Most here seem to be focusing on a relatively obscure law that only affect Louisianians and losing sight of the much, much larger problem of federal price controls. I can see why it is hard to change federal policy when most people are so easily distracted by stupid headlines.
I agree, its the difference between a mountain and a molehill. If these people knew what was going on in the federal subsidy game they would really be enraged. Monsanto and other huge companies write the laws and congress passes them. Revolving door, it affects every government regulating agency.
Last I checked, no ones busting Microsoft or Sony for losing huge chunks of money on their gaming consoles. Of course not, because how else are we going to find a while generation of drone pilots? (See Ender's Game)
The Dairy Industry is the one that came up with the "4 food groups" lots of us grew up with. Dairy wasn't even going to be on the original version. Unless you are an infant you don't need dairy products in your diet AT ALL. EVER. (Must confess, I love cheeses of all kinds, but it's not what I would call a "food group" for me).
You think a group like that might have some sway with the government and regulators?
Someone needs to have a fucking sale on pitchforks.
Pencil neck bureaucrats aren't going to know what hit 'em.
Yeah... just not discounted "too" much.
Lousiana elected bureaucrats got greased palms.
When rogue entities try to make food affordable like this it gets in the way of the global eugenics program.
They've been doing that for years in the alcoholic beverage market. In Nevada, TJ has to sell their "2 Buck Chuck" for 3 bucks, for example.
Here is also a good analysis from Reason:
http://reason.com/blog/2013/01/27/louisiana-milk-police-combat-prices-that
solution -
the store or chain should post large billboards outside each retail outlet and other locations stating the name of the official who has strong armed them into rasing the price of their milk...
along with his department and contact info....you have to turm the people on these mother fuckers if you ever want real fucking change to come...............
Mmm. Sound familiar...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/090028f6-c863-11dc-94a6-0000779fd2ac.html#axzz...
This is actually just like the minimum wage, where it is illegal to sell or buy labor for less than the state-mandated rate.
Funny, you'd get junked for pointing that out. If you really want to make them mad, adding the part about how "minimum wage laws cause unemployment for the marginally skilled workers, who are priced out of entry-level jobs, and thus have no means to enter the labor force," gets them every time. Suddenly you've gained a moral high-ground that they have no ability to understand.
It's what I like to call, "Fun with Rothbard."
Outlawing Jobs
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard124.html
"Laws are for the little people."
long grass-fed cows
Y'all has to pay fer dat gubmint cheese fer dem union workers.
the reason for all this goes back to the pre-Walmart corporate era, when a big grocery chain would build a new store in a small community being served by one or two independents. the new chain would then drop all their prices for several months, until the independents were driven out. then the chain would raise their prices until they often higher than the independents charged in the first place. this also happens in urban communities where the chain stores profit margins are often not high enough to justify a store in that neighborhood. in those instances after the independents are closed the chain cuts back on services and products and raises prices. urban communities are the most poorly served by corporate grocery chains, (Walmart builds mostly in suburban, and exurban areas, although now they are moving into the cities) .
Having this economy of scale allows a corporate outlet to run at a loss in order to drive independents out of business. Walmart is really no different, they cut costs at the vendor level, and lately they have added their other store sale price offer. they will honor any other stores price, and from experience i can say they do this without argument, while at the same time they are real pricks about coupons mostly becvause their computer is set up to reject most of them, and they browbeat their clerks if they accept expired or wrong product coupons.
Hey.... Did you's notice that someone put the letter "c" into the word ......
..............Bureaurats.
I see there must be no spellcheck.
Do you "c"?
No doubt the milk was EBT approved (SNAP/Food Stamps).
This ensures the circle jerk between Government, Corporations, and Lobbying organizations is maintained.
Can't be letting the peasantry not get it in the ass at every turn, now can they?
Ag. lobby ensures high price for dairy, so government can subsidize it, so prices remain high for the oligarchs so they can keep bribing the kleptocrats.
This store obviously didn't get the memo that their loss-leader cannot be the sacred cow (pun intended) of the dairy subsidy industry.
They will have to make their loss-leader dog food to draw in the seniors trying to survive on their 0.5% COLA - soon to be "chained" COLA (i.e. - "There is no inflation") when inflation for things you need to survive is 10% per year.
Way to stand up for free market competition, Jindal, you douche-bag.
The GOP has been in bed with big Ag. for so long the mattress has dents.
Net neutral food cost inflating Ethanol? Thank the Republicrats.
Can't have ADM or Monsanto or Deere losing profit, can we?
The Demicans are just as bad; hyenas all of them.
+1
Hey, he's still a Tea Party favorite in the polls.
"We need to git Bobbeh Jindal in there!!! He'll fix things!!"
*rolls eyes*
I still had to junk you for bothering to pretend the labels matter enough to use them.
Fedgov, Inc.,
Rome on the Potomac,
Cheap Suit Mafia.
Any of these labels would be acceptable. However, using the divide and conquer tools they've laid in place for you, is to further enable their scheme, even if you do explicitly condemn both "sides."
The distinction serves us NO value (well, at least not positive).
Agreed, a true distinction without a difference.
That is why I used Republicrat and Demican.
Would Rebloodlicans and Demicrips be clearer?
Yes, a false dichotomy, that is why I switched the suffixes and called them all hyenas.
"God" told him to do it while Jindal was performing an exorism.
Is that what they call falatio now? :)
5.99 for a gallon of organic at Trader Joes.
How much is a cow, anyway? We got room in the yard.....Solution! Buy a half gallon of whole and add water by a third. Problem solved.
And you thought the BANKS were the protected ones in America.
It's a reach around to the banks as they run the EBT card programs along with welfare and unemployment payment systems.
Government is a branch of the banks, the banks ARE the government.
True, but biggest beneficiary of SNAP and price support is US ag, not the banks in this case.
True.
And Ag. is dependent upon the banks for loans, unless they are family farmers or small enough to be robbed in open view by the likes of Jon Corzine - in which case the banks, big Ag., and the DOJ don't give a shit because they are eager to get rid of the small independent operators.
What seems to be missing is the WHY part of the regulations. Why mandate a six percent profit level unless someone (WM, cough, WM) was undercutting the competition and had deep enough pockets to drive the others out of business. Believe it or not, it's a well worn and well used tactic by larger companies that are looking to expand and want to drive the locals out of business.
I'm company A and rather than compete with companies B & C, I'll just undercut their prices to the point where they can't get any business and in six months they'll be feet up and I'll own all the business and can raise prices to whatever I want. As long as my pockets are deeper than B&C it's a win-win strategy (for me).
It's not right, it's not fair, but that's the way the game is played. If you need a dollar to break even on your widgets and I can undercut you at 85 cents until you give up and either quit or sell out, I can then charge $2 a widget and help make laws that keep foreign widgets from our shores!
Btw, I'm one of those B&C companies and I'm dealing with this right now.
Cows milk is poison. Call me crazy - you'll probably be right. But it is.
Processed cow milk is crap, fresh raw milk is much better. Not surprisingly it's illegal to sell.
+1 Since ~1970's our milk consumption, processed meat consumption and overall processed food consumption has risen by an insane percentage. Casein, the main protein in milk and a high animal protien and processed food diet positively correlated with many type of cancers. The documentary Forks Over Knives references some very enlightening data on this.
Conclusion: We need MUCH less milk and animal protein than the food industry's 'Food Pyramid' BS propaganda.
I would gladly pay $10000 to buy a gallon of milk on one condition: I get to pour it all over Tim Geithner's jewmop of his.
Morningland Dairy Raw Milk Cheese was raided on 1/25 in the Missouri Ozarks. The Missouri Milk Board confiscated 16 Tons of product for destruction based on bogus 'tests'. They were in business over 30 years with not one customer getting sick from the evil raw milk.
http://youtu.be/di_7aBLVn3Q
http://youtu.be/MqSJKPW9-tA
Government protecting us from ourselves and our own choices.
Control of production and consumption is the only way to ensure power and profits.
Okay, here's the scoop on the blond. Her name is Hyden Panettiere.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20052954,00.html
Her name is "Hayden". You gotta get the important stuff right.
Harry Hyman = Hairy Hymen
Don't care, I still have some "milk" for her.
And no, it is not FDA approved.
Fuck the Gubmint - I use soy milk from the dollar store
Along commodity theme got milk.. and it's not too late to short LUMBER.. March contract. Down $7 today @ 352. Were going to the low 200s.
......and that would mean, new housing construction down?
Ever heard of an all negro dairy ? Neither have I !
Dairy Farmer's Lobby. The guy running the state dairy price control commission is a dairy farmer; the guy running the state banking commission is a banker; the gal running the education department is a teacher and the governor works for McKinsey & Company.
Didn't you get the memo, deflation has been outlawed by the Fed.
"What's my line ?" .... Jizz mopper turned snake venom milker !
Aha, ok.
Well.. uhm... but where is that foto?
It's gone, isn't it?
Salestax issue, selling undercost is cheating the state out of revenue.
No sales tax on fud ? State socialist control freak liberals .... no mas !
Ou - this is completley normal - we had same regulators for milk and other products... in USSR.
I remember the shrunken, wrinkled udders of the resistance fighters' cows .... in the winter .... all they had to eat was pine needles and a little bark with lichen .... those were tough times .... but it was worse in Lenningrad ! Monedas 1929 Sometimes I make shit up .... you decide !
Good, good. Now we need to just raise prices everywhere and we'll all be richer! Think about all the money we could make!
moooooooo
long silver
buy the dips
FYI. Louisiana is the least corrupted state in the union. Not withstanding Huey Long and other governors that have spend time in jail.
The state says what milk is worth. John Marshall said he’d tell us what the law is. And the Fed says not only what your money is worth, but what you are worth. Tyranny.
Meanwhile, the tyrants are keeping their Keynesian scheme going by transferring taxpayer money to welfare recipients to keep them shopping along the State road to serfdom, I mean, to recovery.
The facts show that Obama Administration’s policies “have resulted in a record expansion of government benefit programs to include over 100 million Americans,” including a July 12, 2012 announcement that allows States to waive work requirements for welfare recipients.
This 1,000,000 figure represents only means-tested welfare recipients, not Social Security or Medicare, for Q2 of 2011; figures also show that meanwhile “the share of the U.S. population that is working has plummeted to levels not seen since the early 1980s.”
“Starting with its failed trillion-dollar 2009 stimulus plan, the Obama Administration has taken repeated steps that increased the number of people collecting benefits across a range of programs like welfare, unemployment, food stamps, health care, and various refundable tax credits.”
It’s now more than margins, it’s probable that some stores are staying in business solely because of welfare stimulus.
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/democrat_efforts_to_eliminate_work_requirements_august_2012.pdf
I'm going back to breast feeding for milk.
Wonder if those Davos topless chicks give out breat feeding?
Wally_12
oooh yeah , there are other examples where stores were not allowed to give homeless old outdated products for free!
That's the stage of "democracy" and "free market" where governments are becoming pure and obvious bankster puppets.
Stop deflation (& common sense) by all means!!!
Bobby Jindal continues in a long line of republican wage and price control adherents
Sounds like something you'd find in a Commie country or Canada.
Predatory pricing needs stopping, but it would be wonderful if we could get the rest of antitrust enforced before the last two multinational corporations merge...
Wal Mart put half of the small biz out of biz here in Mayberry.
I would not call their business model capitalistic.
They rose to Behemoth stature by breaking laws and paying out all the way down the line.
Fuck you motherfucking criminals.
Louisiana's collective IQ = 30
How far until the government begins writing laws to convict people of theft when it turns out that their garden contains GM vegetables from Monsanto?
I can see an inspector arriving at someone's house with test results saying " Hey, this is GMO piracy! We have no record of you purchasing these seeds, and you need to pay a royalty for these carrots!"
But what about all of the kittens that are starving because their owners can't afford milk for them?
Harsh, man! Very harsh.
Laugh while you can. The local permit nazis, zoning nazis, and other petty bureaucrats will be swininging from trees soon unless the ship is righted.
Anyone who doesn't get that the Government was called in by the (competing) retailers themselves is being unsophisticated, and dumb. Time to widen your horizons, and look a bit into the modern milk industry, and how it affects producers. Hint: most of the profit is made by the retailers [super-markets] not the producers.
I know you all love a good tale of "evil Government", but you've really no idea (it would seem by the comments) about the concept of "regulatory capture". If you're going to bray at the fodder, little doggies, please at least know who is using the whistle. Major retailers screw the producers hugely, and frankly, I prefer the tighter EU model where you don't get pus, rbST or rbGH (that's Prosilac, via Monsanto[1]) and iGF-1 in your milk.
[1] Prosilac was banned by Canada, Australia, Israel, Japan and the entire EU. And yes, the EU still screws the producers, but most of the sane world won't drink that shit. [source] Much like your HF corn syrups... Governments via science bans them for a reason, you know: and trust me, even with this slight usage of Science and regulation, they make enough profit (#google cost milk production average profit supermarket retail price - I think it's something like 0.02 cents / litre profit for the producers in the EU). Poisoning your consumers? Not so smart.
Watch these bastards. 2 for 1 Boyardees is next.
State logic goes something like this: Cows pollute the enviroment and must pay Carbon Taxes.If they breath too deeply,they also consume a lot of oxygen so we must tax them for that as well.So the only way to sell cheap milk is if your cows tax evade.