Give Me Bacon Or Give Me Death: Trump Orders Meat Plants Open As Shortages Loom
Donald Trump has seen enough when it comes to shuttered meat processing facilities.
Following a wave of closures which, according to the likes of Tyson and Smithfield, are set to cause imminent shortages at grocery stores and leave farmers with little choice but to destroy millions of animals, the president declared some plants critical infrastructure in an executive order signed on Tuesday evening.
The move comes amid a veritable cacophony of shrill warnings about the US food supply chain, wh
Over the past 5 years, the big 4 major packers have been systematically shutting down beef processing plants in order to push retail prices up and to create an artificial glut at the cattle producer end that allows them to bid lower and lower prices for their supply. They have been working together on this and are now being sued in Anti-trust actions by smaller beef operators and grower’s orgs. The best thing Trump can do is push the USDA to allow smaller local plants to process beef without the very high bar of the current regulations that block producers from going direct to retail in many markets. This current EO will likely empower the big 4 to continue to manipulate the market – now with Gov blessing.
I’m confused.
The protestors in Michigan and elsewhere are demanding their “freedom” to move about, go back to work, etc, and this is supported by Trump regardless of health consequences.
Liberty or Death.
Now he/Trump is demanding the meat-packing people go back to work not only depriving them of their freedom to choose not to work in unsafe conditions but possibly subjecting them to a death sentence.
No Liberty and Death.
It’s a head scratcher but most of what comes from this Administration is.
I live in Black Hawk County Iowa. Home if the Waterloo Tyson’s plant. We went from 20 cases on 4/9 to 1,346 cases yesterday / there is a significant lag before all cases appear in the national numbers. There are only 130,000 people in the county. Tyson closed a plant in Cedar Rapids and sent workers to Waterloo. Local medical persons say they have seen multiple virus infections from individuals who live in the Cedar Rapids area. Pretty scary. Makes the “protect the good chain” approach from Washington feel, how should I put it, personal…… Love the site, love the insight.
To the Title I say OK…
The question I would have can he actually unilaterally take on legal liability or give immunity? I would have thought these to be the perview of congress. Will corporate lawyers want the risk that Trump’s orders are flawed? Does this go exactly no where?
It is amusing to try to trace the chain of command from the president to corporate meat packers and unions. One might almost suspect the President is not in fact in any position to declare this at all as he is ultimately in some ways not actually an emperor and is up for election in Nov…
He is planning to use the Defense Procurement powers. This is interesting as can he shield Tyson from lawsuits they ignored worker safety? It is a modern day example of greed like Upton Sinclairs, “The Jungle”. Obviously all Trump is concerned about is votes, how many people die to secure his voters is of no consequence.
Trump and Congress have blanket immunity from such actions. DOJ can grant immunity.
Grant a preemptive pardon and make the executives say workers health is really important. Yeah, that should do it. Another problemo solved!
I wonder how many workers in these plants are “guest” workers — you know, the kind of workers that Stephen Miller and Trump want to bar from the country. The kind of workers that take “our” jobs — until you realize no one else wants to do those jobs. #MAGA
I spent 35 years in Black Hawk County and remember when IBP built that plant. I also remember a roundup of “guest” workers by ICE that netted over 1000 people who thew agents then parked in a rundown local arena. If I had to make a guess I’d say half the meat industry work force in the state could be “guests.
For guys like Trump, and sadly many of my fellow Americans, keeping the plants open and risking the health of workers (predominantly immigrants from poor Central American countries) is preferable than to subjecting their fat behinds to a diet of fish and veggies for a few weeks. America must adhere to the words of the great philosopher Peyton Manning: Cut that Meat!