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A couple questions, then, over the past day's posts: First, how many people really would "stock up" on milk to the tune of 30 gallons at a time, given its short shelf life; and second, what negative could they have said about raw milk that isn't true?
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"My in-laws are country people and at night you can hear their distinctive howl." -
It was a smuggling operation. The smugglers would buy large-ish quantities, then resell it at a profit to them, but discount to the buyers.
^-.-^Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - DresdenComment
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Fair enough (though in that case calling it "stocking up" was misleading).... but what about the raw milk?"My in-laws are country people and at night you can hear their distinctive howl."Comment
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Both Canada and the U.S. subsidize dairy farmers.
In Canada, there's a quota system where farmer's aren't allowed to sell milk they don't have quota for. This restricts the supply, and pushes prices up.
In the U.S., my understanding is that the government buys whatever the farmers produce but are unable to sell, then tries to recoup some of the money by selling it off. This pushes the "shelf price" down, but hides part of the cost of milk in other taxes.
What would happen if "free trade" in dairy products were mandated? The U.S. has roughly 10 times the population of Canada. Bringing in dairy products from the U.S. until prices equalized on both sides of the border would result in a bi-national price marginally higher than the current U.S. price. The U.S. farmers would still get their subsidy from the government buying what they weren't able to sell - that quantity would be reduced somewhat (due to the larger market), and the government would have a larger market in which to re-sell the surplus. Canadian farmers would be wiped out, due to their only form of income support being eliminated.Comment
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