Posted on 12/10/2006 6:37:40 PM PST by Zack Nguyen
A maverick dairyman named Hein Hettinga started bottling his own milk and selling it for as much as 20 cents a gallon less than the competition, exercising his right to work outside the rigid system that has controlled U.S. milk production for almost 70 years. Soon the effects were rippling through the state, helping to hold down retail prices at supermarkets and warehouse stores.
Taking on Big Milk For three years, starting in 2003, a coalition of milk companies and dairies lobbied to crush an initiative by a maverick Arizona dairyman. Hein Hettinga chose to work outside the rigid system that has controlled U.S. milk production for almost 70 years. The milk lobby said he presented unfair competition because he chose to operate without federal price control. Hettinga fought back but was outgunned on the Hill. In March, Congress passed a bill that effectively ended his experiment.
That was when a coalition of giant milk companies and dairies, along with their congressional allies, decided to crush Hettinga's initiative. For three years, the milk lobby spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions and made deals with lawmakers, including incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).
Last March, Congress passed a law reshaping the Western milk market and essentially ending Hettinga's experiment -- all without a single congressional hearing.
"They wanted to make sure there would be no more Heins," said Mary Keough Ledman, a dairy economist who observed the battle.
Hettinga, who ran a big business and was no political innocent, fought back with his own lobbyists and alliances with lawmakers. But he found he was no match for the dairy lobby.
"I had an awakening," the 64-year-old Dutch-born dairyman said. "It's not totally free enterprise in the United States."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Campaign contributions beats free enterprise, it seems.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
As someone who grew up on a dairy farm, I can tell you that feudalism hasn't ended.
It has for quite some time. So long as Congress represents the various lobbies, they have no time or dedication to the citizens who put them there.
One more reason why the Pubs lost control.
It's another reason why I am starting to think that Republicans need to take this time to reconsider why they are in politics in the first place.
What do you mean?
It's not free enterprise when the RATS are in power.
As someone who grew up on a dairy farm, I can tell you that feudalism hasn't ended.
What do you mean?
The large milk companies have carved the country into blocks of milk producing areas. There is little if any competition between them to buy the milk. The price is set and the farmers either take it or go out of business.
Just as this article points out the companies use the "socialist" government to keep everyone in line.
This socialist program is a hold-over from the New Deal. It's ridiculous and anti-free market.
As much as I hate to agree with him, stop by any deficit/protectionism thread here and you'll see what he means...
This sentence sums the whole discussion nicely:
The milk lobby said he presented unfair competition because he chose to operate without federal price control
He chose to operate without our money subsidizing him.
We used to applaud people who did that.
Ah, but the Democrats are not in power yet. This was done by our very own alleged Republicans.
"Hettinga also turned to the courts. In October, he filed a lawsuit charging that the milk bill was unconstitutional because it was aimed at penalizing a single individual.
"I still think this is a great country," Hettinga said. "In Mexico, they would have just shot me." "
See tag line. Seems they did!
Which dairy state in a Red state? That might be the answer to the question right there.
My grandfather had a dairy farm in upstate New York - sometime in the 'teens or 'twenties I think it was - he joined a group of his neighboring dairy farmers who formed a co-op to try to get a better price for their milk. The milk buyers raised their prices to farmers who didn't go along with the co-op and it fell apart. Then the prices went back down to what they had been.
The more things change....
I hope the lawsuit is successful and the dairy cartel is gotten rid of. There is just really no excuse for it in a free market economy.
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