Australia, U.S. May Agree Free Trade Pact This Year, Bush Says

Oh come on. American ranchers selling here have the advantage of several thousand miles worth of shipping costs, and the resulting loss of time and freshness. If that isn't enough to keep them in business they deserve to be undersold.

You are right that domestic producers should be capable of beating importers, but they can't while they are being beaten over the head by the Federal Government. You are foretting estate taxes, the regulatory overhead of dealing with the Fish and Wildlife Service, the EPA, OSHA... FedGov directly controls how many animals they can have on that land. The rancher has to expend that entire overhead aginst fewer animals. The net result is literal UNDERgrazing, lands virtually destroyed by lack of grazing. BTW, the meat packers don't care about freshness or quality (at least not much) because there are now only eight of them, groups of which form regional oligopolies. While cattle and sheep prices are at all time lows, prices at the store don't fall.

Now, for twenty points, guess who the big investors are in overseas meat production?

I would like to add that the "transportation advantages" you assume are less than you presume. Note that most of Urban America and urban Australia is coastal. Sending carcasses to the East Coast by ship is cheap compared to trucking or rail from the American West. Currency manipulation can more than make up for that difference, and has.

"regional oligopolies"

The largest integrated food companies in the country have gross pretax margins in beef and pork of 1-2%. That is not a sign of lack of effective competition. It compares with 5-6% margins on average food items and much, much higher ones in branded consumer items (anybody been in the cereal aisle in ten years?). It is a commodity business. Suggesting it is monopolized or anything close to it is ridiculous.

As for government hassles, one entry accounting and distraction. Aussies have government hassles too. And where regulation is a pain in the neck, the solution is to change the regulation, not add more in the form of trade barriers.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.