“Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.”
Regarding the need to feed the poor, I’ve been told the rich are a good source of protein
Yeah they’re just like insects, we can grind them up into a fine powder and mix them into anything. They can’t argue with that because that’s what they want us to do anyway.
Norway fucked up on eggs this year. They feared overproduction, so they made a subsidy for egg producers not producing… resulting in an egg shortage this Easter.
https://euroweeklynews.com/2024/03/30/scramble-for-eggs-norway-face-easter-egg-shortage/
They…feared overproduction?
Were they worried about depleting resources or something?
I wrote a lengthy reply to a similar question:
Got it, dumb capitalist nonsense.
Flattening the territory to fit the map.
they were worried about producing too much, the price of eggs collapsing, the market demand being so low they couldn’t move product, and thus, losing money. It’s a big problem with industrialized farming. Localized farming helps to solve this issue.
Sure but why not just give the farmers what they needed and pickle the extra or something?
Why is overproduction a bad thing? Doesn’t everyone just get cheaper food as a result?
It seems that the Norwegian egg-business is always in trouble somehow. Just like farmers elsewhere complaining about the weather, it’s an endless moaning.
EU is pushing for a shorter shelf-life on eggs to be able to make a more rapid response against salmonella, and while Norway isn’t in EU and generally don’t have the salmonella issue, they still have to trade with EU. Fear of chicken flu is also lowering the demand for eggs.
Overproduction is bad because it can make the price go so low that it doesn’t make sense for anyone to do. Especially in a country like Norway where the cost of living is extremely high. They simply can’t compete, so the state offers money to keep the businesses closed while the free market can’t pay them, and to keep domestic production from competing too much internally.
It’s not uncommon to see this situation in EU, where it is sometimes possible to buy a plot of agricultural land and do nothing with it only to get paid by EU for leaving the land alone. The EU is a trade union, so the main purpose internally is to direct the trades to those who can do it best and cheapest within the borders. It’s a good thing though. In the 1990s there was a massive overproduction of all kinds of foods that would eventually rot up in stocks all over Europe. Overproduction is a cost if the goods cannot be sold.
Norwegian eggs are not exactly a big business, but I do believe it’s a net export for them, so I think the subsidy is made to keep the egg producers in business even if the export is lowering for different reasons. If they didn’t pay chicken producers not to produce, the producers would have to stop production due to low revenue from temporarily missed sales and eventually leaving Norway without a realistic capability of producing for their own market.
Anyway, it backfired at the Easter peak demand. It may still make sense later.
I heard they jacked up prices due to the Avian Flu. They culled over 80,000,000 egg laying hens
That was 17% of the total population. The price went up by 400-900%, and there was never a shortage. As usual, we got shafted.
There absolutely was a shortage.
the current outbreak of the virus that began in early 2022 has prompted officials to slaughter nearly 82 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens, in 47 U.S. states
Getting downvoted, but no one has a factual counter argument.
The best part is they’ll raise prices due to “inflation” or whatever, then when supply increases…the prices don’t go down!
I’m honestly wondering what the end game is for these MBA asshats ruining everything. Is it really that many people so selfish and myopic that we have to suffocate on this one planet and never reach?
If the prices didn’t go up because of a shortage, because there was never a shortage, why did prices go back down again?
The law of supply and demand explains the price of eggs. If you’re saying it’s wrong then what’s your better egg-splanation?
The prices went back down right after the federal government announced a price fixing investigation and a bunch of news coverage came out about how their claims were bogus.
The law of supply and demand is not real. When wealthy money addicts rip you off they pretend its a force of nature ripping you off. Behind every money transaction there is a human being with an address who made a choice.
This is very relevant.
Weber’s company, Sunrise Farms, had to slaughter its entire flock of egg-laying hens — 550,000 birds — to prevent the disease from infecting other farms in Sonoma County
During the past two months, nearly a dozen commercial farms have had to destroy more than 1 million birds to control the outbreak (as of 27 Jan 24)
the current outbreak of the virus that began in early 2022 has prompted officials to slaughter nearly 82 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens, in 47 U.S. states
In California, the outbreak has impacted more than 7 million chickens in about 40 commercial flocks and 24 backyard flocks
Also, shit: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/01/texas-cows-bird-flu-human-infection/
Some (at least) were killed brutally. Gassed in the hen houses, panicking as they died, trying to peck their way out. Poor birds.
Eggs were. At least for me, I can no longer afford eggs.
I don’t shame people for buying unnecessary things. But, I will think you are a little stupid if you are nearly starving but have a brand new car. You aren’t responsible for the system you live in, but you can at least try to make it a little better for yourself.
I’m not talking about people that just spend some money for something they like, quality of life is important. I mean people that will literally cripple themselves financially just for a status symbol. Especially if you have people that rely on you.
Can you point to specific examples of someone you have encountered in your daily life, someone who is nearly starving… but chooses to spend their money on an unnecessary indulgence? Because it sounds like you’re otherwise just perpetuating stereotypes.
Nearly starving is almost an impossible to do involuntary in the United States, so that’s poor criterion to use here.
But yes I know many people who fit the description, who go on trips, buy cars, expensive clothes to improve their image, when they don’t have the income nor the savings to support it.
You’ve never ran into that guy who gets temp work in roofing, landscaping, or as a rig-pig, who gets a loan for a six-figure truck?
I used to live in this weird apartment building that once had been fancy, so it had large common areas with fitted carpet; but now was “significantly less desirable”, and residents used to let their dogs shit on the carpet. It was the cheapest 1-bed flat I could find at the time. 2/3 of the cars parked outside were recent BMW’s or Audi’s. Everyone will choose how they spend their own money, but some fall for the glamour of consumerism more than others, and for many young men with jobs but no families that means the coolest car you can manage, even if you have to live in a damp hovel and wade thru dog shit to get to it every morning 🤗
Doesn’t sound like someone who’s minutes away from starving buying something that was obviously unnecessary though, does it?
And if a guy with shitty credit and unsteady income is able to get financing on a six-figure truck, that’s more the banks fault.
Why do I need to provide personal anecdotes to prove the fact that there have been poor people that make bad decisions? It really is not that crazy of a concept.
If you are going to make a statement about people, generally speaking, we like to have proof.
Have you actually seen this new car welfare person or is this a straw man born of your keyboard?
What if you need a car to get to job interviews? If you don’t get the brand new car, you can’t get to job interviews, so you lose the unemployment benefit because the government feels you don’t deserve it?
Or you need the car to get to the job because the public transport is so shit and unreliable that the car is the only way to get there without fail and if you rely on public transport then you risk getting fired if you are late again?
Sometimes people have reasons that might not be obvious but are there because of the system.
Why would you need a brand new car? Like I agree with your main point but brand new?
I was using “brand new” as in they buy a new car to replace the car they have. Not necessarily a shiny new, newest model up to date state of the art car, but a they replace the car they have with a new car.
Believe it or not there are people who would say “How can you say you are poor – you just bought a new car?” then tell The Daily Mail that illegal immigrants are using tax-payers money to buy new cars.
A new car is not that much more in a lot of places than a used car, especially right now. Plus, you can earn supplementary income with a new car that you might not be able to in an old car. In some markets you can’t drive uber without a very new car.
This is why the advice is basically not to judge so much, especially considering billionaires are literally making record profits off of food and medicine right now.
you can buy a new car two years ago when finances were good, and then suddenly, shit hits the fan, prices get fucked, you no longer have a job, and you can’t find one trivially. Suddenly you have no money, and a really nice car.
My family recently just traded in both cars for newer models, we’re doing alright at the moment, but it’s definitely a possibility.