Pravda on the Merrimack – that’s what we oft call the Concord Monitor because it almost always advocates for MORE government to solve whatever problem ails us – and here, doubles down when a government policy just isn’t working at all. This time, it is about Government trying to control the marketplace for that common table victual – milk. Simple milk. It’s putting family farms out of business so what does the Fishwrap do? That’s right – doubles down. Notice what its LAST resort happens to be (emphasis mine):
Dairy farms are disappearing, as Taylor told our sister paper, the Valley News, where he once served as managing editor, because a federal program sets the price of milk but does not control the supply. When milk prices drop, farmers add more cows to offset the loss, which then keeps prices down. Milk prices that averaged $24 per hundredweight in 2014 have fallen to $15, less than the cost of production.
The answer lies in scrapping the current system in favor of one like Canada’s, where both the price and the amount of milk each farm can produce is determined by demand. There’s been talk of doing just that for decades, but little has changed. Dairy farming remains a feast or famine business. Some states offer price supports to help preserve their dairy farms. New Hampshire does not.Communities can help farms survive by granting them a measure of property tax relief. Whether to do so is a fit subject for debate. Beyond that, patronizing local farms is the best way to help them survive.
Yeah, that bit about “determined by demand”? It is all but total control by the Canadian Government. Collectivist pretty much covers it It sets the price to the consumers and prevents farmers from “free styling” in that everyone gets a quota. You make this much, you get that much – and the person who gets screwed is the Canadian consumer from this “in-country cartel” that actively conspires against it citizens price-wise.
So, thanks, Pravada on the Merrimack, for living up to what many here in NH call your Soviet socialist ways. It seems that you DO embrace that Government should be in charge and not Individuals making decisions for themselves. Nice to see confirmation that you believe others know better than the rest of us – so just LIVE with it and stop yer complaining.
After all, according to this Op-Ed, it should be a Right, an entitlement, to be a dairy farmer – they must not be allowed to go out of business because HISTORY! And in their case, an undying faith in the Status Quo in that nothing should ever change for no one. That’s a socialist state – everybody stays exactly where they are and are supposed to LOVE their perch in that society.
Funny, I don’t remember the Founding Fathers speaking about this nation’s future in that way…
Like a lot of government programs, the “intent” *might* have been decent in the beginning but not thought through with respect to future Unintended Consequences. In this case, Government intervention has made things worse, not better. Both consumers and suppliers would benefit from the Government withdrawing from the dairy marketplace and allowing free marketplace price signaling indicate a better supply for current demands for that given milk product.
