A Centrally Planned Food Supply

There is no monopoly on the food supply. There is no central authority that dictates how much food is produced and at what price it is sold. There is certainly intervention in the form of subsidies and the like, which serves to distort the free market, but that is not the same as central planning.

I have a problem with central planning, which you are conflating with other forms of intervention into the market.

 

Because I don't believe they ever will.

Forever is a long time, and you never know...but what's the point asking a question like this when it will likely never happen?

There are more interesting questions involving things that won't happen...but hey!.....I'm not trying to poopoo your thread, I'm just curious if anyone ever proposed a centrally controlled food supply in the US

 

You'd have to be more specific. McDonald's has existed for decades, and they started out as a small business, too.

 

http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/115557.aspx

 

Duly noted.

To discuss economics.

Alright then.

 

How about making campaign donations in order to get an exemption to pay employees less than minimum wage? Doesn't seem very competitive to me.

 

But if you're okay with central planning via corporation, and not central planning via government, then you're not really against central planning, you're just against the government.

 

Nice blog. Am I supposed to take it seriously?

 

The vast majority of our food supply is corporate controlled and consolidated into very few hands.

There is no governmental authority that does so.

What we have today is about as close as you can get to your hypothetical notion of central planning.

Our market, including our food supply, is very much a planned market. Simply because it isn't planned and controlled completely by the government doesn't mean it is not so.

 

Show me credible evidence of this.

 

A corporation cannot engage in central planning, only governments can.

 

Evidence, please.

Then it's not "central planning".

My "hypothetical notion" has already happened in places like the USSR and China.

If it were a "planned market", then consumers would have no direct impact on supply or prices.

 

　
　
And i agree with you for some of the same but different reasoning.
　

　
　
Aww, I understand your confusion. The mega corporation Macky D's was created by government cronyism, the small business entity known as McDonalds was once a lonely mom and pop just like thousands of others driven out of business by the best government corporate money could buy.
　
　
If not for the special favors (AKA cronyism), tax/regulation exemptions, government welfare, they would have been forgotten many decades ago, just like the best burger place I ever ate at called the Wild Cat Drive In was. The best burgers and onion rings on the planet and the biggest competitor in one of the towns i grew up in. But the federal government gave Macky D's/Taco Smell/KF prairie C grants to build their franchises, gave them money through other grants them to train their own government paid employees in a never ending training program (well until it did the job of eliminating their direct competition any way) assured them higher profit margins than any of their competitors that did not have the benefit of being a federal government darling. Then the best government corporate money could buy at the city/local level gave them even more of an already huge advantage, by giving them tax breaks that allowed them to be tax free for over a decade (or more in most cases), built them special exits from the freeway at tax payers expense (skipping over the road that the Wild [tax payer] Cat was on), paved their parking lot for free, put in a few extra strategically placed traffic lights also for free, skipped a few inspections here and there while piling them on their competition regularly, and gave them a 50-60% reduced rate on their utility bills, forcing places like the Wild Cat and the rest of the actual tax payers to pay the difference, which inevitably drove all them, the mega corporations competition, OUT OF BUSINESS!!
　
　
You deny this has been the standard operational procedures of the best government corporate money can buy for the last 40-50 years??? If so, then you are even more delusional than you first appeared.

 

I don't think that's accurate. It certainly isn't true in a practical sense. Most corporations themselves are more centrally-planned than most governments, certainly more than the American government.

Check this out:

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1847976/us_food_industry_plans_to_improve_nutrition/

A small number of people, small enough to issue a coherent statement, believe that they can plan to improve nutrition in the American food industry. Central planning, specifically without government interference. For the better, presumably, according to the article.

 

I think the State governments have the power and the capacity to do it.

 

Yep. I'm tired of being held hostage by the private monopolizers.

 

How about an encyclopedia???

 

Sorry, but I don't consider unsourced claims made in an incoherent internet rant to be credible.

 

Translation; Don't waste your time Homer, anything you show me (Ethereal) will be immediately and completely ignored with prejudice.

 

I'm talking about a specific economic practice whereby a central governing authority dictates how much and at what price a given good is produced. It was employed by the Soviets and, more recently, the North Koreans. They have what are called "planned economies", and it doesn't involve private corporations, as "private property" is typically nonexistent in such societies.

You're conflating corporate structure and management with an economic system.

Who is "the food industry"?

 

Quite obviously, an enormous safety net exists for big capital. Why shouldn't little Tommy down the street have a safety net of some sort?

 

No, there is no government department in charge of our food supply however, when government pays farmers NOT to grow crops it is controlling the food supply. The government foot is already in the door. Also there is this...

"On Tuesday, Jan. 4, President Obama signed the $1.4 billion food safety bill into law, despite some lawmakers complaining about the price of the bill and threatening its funding.

The legislation — the first major overhaul of food safety since the 1930s — will increase government inspections at food-processing plants and also will give FDA the right to order recalls."


http://www.growingproduce.com/news/?storyid=4890

Another inroad that has not yet passed the Senate although has been re-introduced at least twice and probably will again.....

H.R.5620 - Fresh Produce Safety Act..

Establishes standards for 'good' manufacturing practices for the minimal processing of produce. This includes requirements for manure, animals, water and environmental conditions. Gives 'officers' and 'employees' the (duly designated by the Secretary) the authority to inspect, determine 'compliance', maintain active surveillance of human illness by also including the FDA.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-s2077/show

Just part of the reason why food prices are high. Like I said...call it what you will. Right now there is the potential for government to suppress your backyard vegetable garden in the name of 'safety.'

 

Okay, so I see that Ray donated to Nixon who recommended amending the minimum wage law.

Is that the best you got?

 

No translation is necessary. "Show me credible evidence" means exactly what it says it means. If you require further assistance in deciphering my meaning, please consult a dictionary.

 

Look, I am not denying the obvious fact that the government is intervening in our food supply (and almost everything else, for that matter), but on a relative scale, our food production and distribution system is primarily market-based as opposed to, say, our money supply, which is totally monopolized and planned by the government.