Socialism for America's Dairy Comrades

There is not much in the way of good news for dairy farmers
these days.

The only ray of sunshine has been an enormous welfare
subsidy package passed by Congress. If not for charity, the
dairy business would be bankrupt.

Many Americans are consuming less dairy as a result of their
increased awareness regarding the adverse effects of milk
consumption. As the NOTMILK movement gains steam, how does
the dairy industry react? By producing more milk!

As demand decreases for butter, cheese, and milk, production
should naturally decrease. Instead, production is
increasing. As supplies increase, what happens to price?
Why, it drops, of course. Any college economics student
would be able to give you a lecture on the theory of supply
and demand.

During the year 2002, American cheese output was up 5.3
percent. Butter production increased by a factor of 13.9
percent.

One year ago today, the wholesale price of butter was $2.18
per pound. Yesterday, the wholesale price of butter (traded
on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange) was 94 cents per pound.

The wholesale price of dried whey has fallen from 29 cents
per pound to under 17 cents per pound.

The wholesale price of a 40 pound block of cheddar cheese
has also fallen from $1.72 per pound to $1.17 per pound.

Each time you see a full page advertisement in Time or U.S
News & World Report extolling the virtues of biotechnology,
let Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone
serve as an example of the resulting economic chaos. Farmers
using the bovine growth hormone (rbGH) get more milk from
their cows. The milk enters the market place, and there are
no customers. Foreign nations have rejected offers of free
American food that has been genetically engineered. American
consumers consume too much already. Prices drop. Congress
passes laws. Taxpayers pay the price.

Unfortunately for dairymen, even the multi-billions of
dollars in subsidies will not be enough to cushion their
losses. Their economic tragedy falls far below their break
even point.

If milk was a healthy substance for human consumption, this
system might be worth saving, despite the fact that it runs
contrary to every economic principle that once made America
strong.

Many wars were fought and many lives were lost to preserve
an American way of life and defeat the imagined menace of
communism and socialism. Ask yourself now whether those
lives were worth losing. We did not win the wars. Communism
and Socialism have become the American way of life. Today's
dairy industry survives because an underlying tenet of
Marxism defines and is applied to their inadequacies:

From each according to his ability, to each according to his
need.