General Cooking (rec.food.cooking) For general food and cooking discussion. Foods of all kinds, food procurement, cooking methods and techniques, eating, etc.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)   Report Post  
Cdonahey41
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

The price went way up before the mad cow problems/ Since there is lot of beef
that can no longer be exported, this should indicate the price of beef will go
down. You know greater supply, lower price kind of reasoning. I just paid
$3.29 for ground chuck recently.

Does anybody know why the price of beef has skyrocketed? I presume people have
been buying less, and would buy more if the price went down.
  #2 (permalink)   Report Post  
WardNA
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

>Does anybody know why the price of beef has skyrocketed?

The amount we export is less than the amount we exclude from Canada; in the
meantime, the VAST MAJORITY of consumers are not buying the mad cow scare, so
supply-and-demand still favors the domestic cattle industry.

  #3 (permalink)   Report Post  
Goomba38
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

Cdonahey41 wrote:

> Does anybody know why the price of beef has skyrocketed? I presume people have
> been buying less, and would buy more if the price went down.


Well... every newspaper I've read recently cite it as also being because of the
increase in consumption (think Atkins)
Goomba


  #4 (permalink)   Report Post  
BOB
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

Cdonahey41 > typed:
> The price went way up before the mad cow problems/ Since there is lot of

beef
> that can no longer be exported, this should indicate the price of beef will

go
> down. You know greater supply, lower price kind of reasoning. I just paid
> $3.29 for ground chuck recently.
>
> Does anybody know why the price of beef has skyrocketed? I presume people
> have been buying less, and would buy more if the price went down.


Because people *continue* to pay $3.29/# for ground mystery meat?
If you pay it, they will charge that much for it.

BOB


  #6 (permalink)   Report Post  
Blair P. Houghton
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

Goomba38 > wrote:
>Cdonahey41 wrote:
>
>> Does anybody know why the price of beef has skyrocketed? I presume

>people have
>> been buying less, and would buy more if the price went down.

>
>Well... every newspaper I've read recently cite it as also being because of the
>increase in consumption (think Atkins)


Horseshit.

It's because thet cow producers got together and cartelled the price up.

If the Mad Cow spike didn't drop retail prices (it dropped
wholesale by 20% already), then it's a bunch of manure.

http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/FC/14

--Blair
"Time to start kicking some
monopolistic ass."
  #7 (permalink)   Report Post  
Gregory Toomey
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

It was a dark and stormy night, and Cdonahey41 managed to scribble:

> The price went way up before the mad cow problems/


In Australia the price of lamb has skyrocketed from about $3/kg to $10/kg, partly because of drought, and partly because of the collapse of the price of wool. The number of sheep has dropped from 150 million to 100 million.
But I can buy pork chops for $4/kg.

Also milk costs $1.20/litre and I can buy ice cream for $1 per litre. Go figure.

gtoomey


  #8 (permalink)   Report Post  
Sam D.
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?


"Cdonahey41" > wrote in message
...
> The price went way up before the mad cow problems/ Since there is lot of

beef
> that can no longer be exported, this should indicate the price of beef

will go
> down. You know greater supply, lower price kind of reasoning. I just

paid
> $3.29 for ground chuck recently.
>
> Does anybody know why the price of beef has skyrocketed? I presume people

have
> been buying less, and would buy more if the price went down.



Your thinking is right on the money but I believe this is too early to see
any dramatic price changes from the fallout over mad cow disease,
particularly at the retail level now.

There is a lot of uncertainty over just how firm and how permanent the
import bans on U.S. beef by other countries are going to remain. If the
absence of exports results in an oversupply, beef prices could be expected
to fall. OTOH if domestic consumption of beef continues to climb, the
growing demand here could absorb a lot of the the beef supply that now goes
to foreign countries, in which case prices may not fall much.

As soon as the dust begins to settle I look for a major national advertising
campaign by the beef industry to try and boost sales.


  #12 (permalink)   Report Post  
Dimitri
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?


"Cdonahey41" > wrote in message
...
> The price went way up before the mad cow problems/ Since there is lot of

beef
> that can no longer be exported, this should indicate the price of beef

will go
> down. You know greater supply, lower price kind of reasoning. I just

paid
> $3.29 for ground chuck recently.
>
> Does anybody know why the price of beef has skyrocketed? I presume people

have
> been buying less, and would buy more if the price went down.


Expensive is a relative term based upon your disposable/discretionary
income. Although prices have increased recently since we use the open market
system usually there is a supply and demand situation.

Dimitri


  #13 (permalink)   Report Post  
Michel Boucher
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

"Dimitri" > wrote in
. com:

> Expensive is a relative term based upon your
> disposable/discretionary income. Although prices have increased
> recently since we use the open market system usually there is a
> supply and demand situation.


Since when does the US use the open market system? The production of
most agricultural foodstuffs in the US is either subsidized or managed
and therefore benefit from unfair advantages over countries that don't
subsidize (or receive foreign aid of any sort) like Canada. That has
been a bone of contention in GATT negotiations where the US has
demanded the lowering or elimination of subsidies in other countries
while protecting its own.

--

"I'm the master of low expectations."

GWB, aboard Air Force One, 04Jun2003
  #14 (permalink)   Report Post  
Dimitri
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?


"Michel Boucher" > wrote in message
...
> "Dimitri" > wrote in
> . com:
>
> > Expensive is a relative term based upon your
> > disposable/discretionary income. Although prices have increased
> > recently since we use the open market system usually there is a
> > supply and demand situation.

>
> Since when does the US use the open market system? The production of
> most agricultural foodstuffs in the US is either subsidized or managed
> and therefore benefit from unfair advantages over countries that don't
> subsidize (or receive foreign aid of any sort) like Canada. That has
> been a bone of contention in GATT negotiations where the US has
> demanded the lowering or elimination of subsidies in other countries
> while protecting its own.
>


Ok let me re-define my statement - neither the US government nor the States
publish or "fix/set" prices for retail food consumption ergo the normal
supply and demand usually prevail.

You are correct however in that the US government does manage certain
commodities which is why we no longer make Life Savers in the US and why the
production has moved 100% to Canada. Do you want to send those Jobs back?

Dimitri


  #15 (permalink)   Report Post  
Michel Boucher
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

"Dimitri" > wrote in
om:

> You are correct however in that the US government does manage
> certain commodities which is why we no longer make Life Savers in
> the US and why the production has moved 100% to Canada. Do you
> want to send those Jobs back?


Do you want them back? Obviously, they were thought at one time to
be unsuitable for Murkins to do...are you saying that now you're
desperate, that you're interested in getting them back? :-)

The GATT/WTO has attempted to develop the concept (not entirely
successfully, nor do I agree with it) of "comparative advantage",
which is a difficult concept to nail down, but essentially it means
that certain crops or products should almost be granted as exclusive
commodities for nations that have a relatively easy time of growing
or manufacturing them. For example, one would not recognize a
comparative advantage in growing bananas to Iceland, but one would to
the island of Madeira. The problem is that economists are the ones
developing these concepts and that truly frightens the bejaysus out
of me.

I see it as a problem wherein local markets will cease to exist and
varieties of cultivars will be eliminated inorder to make the crop
easier to transport. The experiment has already failed in Italy
where a region that was famous for its fifteen varieties of green
peppers has been transformed into large tracts of lad to grow
something completely different and no one ensured the survival of the
varieties so that now they are lots (at any rate lost to consumers).

The problem with agricultural subsidies is that governments will want
them applied on the blandest of products to ensure best iunvestment
return, not the lesser known but more exciting varieties, and we are
that much the poorer or it.

--

"I'm the master of low expectations."

GWB, aboard Air Force One, 04Jun2003


  #16 (permalink)   Report Post  
Dimitri
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?


"Michel Boucher" > wrote in message
...

<snip>

> The problem with agricultural subsidies is that governments will want
> them applied on the blandest of products to ensure best iunvestment
> return, not the lesser known but more exciting varieties, and we are
> that much the poorer or it.


Nope the problem is that the programs are created/administered by
politicians......


Dimitri


  #18 (permalink)   Report Post  
Michel Boucher
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

"Dimitri" > wrote in
m:

>> The problem with agricultural subsidies is that governments will
>> want them applied on the blandest of products to ensure best
>> iunvestment return, not the lesser known but more exciting
>> varieties, and we are that much the poorer or it.

>
> Nope the problem is that the programs are created/administered by
> politicians......


Actually, politicians are not that smart. Program creators and
administrators are career civil servants for the most part, with a dash
of academic input and sometimes industry input. Politicians, if they
are smart, do as they are told.

--

"I'm the master of low expectations."

GWB, aboard Air Force One, 04Jun2003
  #19 (permalink)   Report Post  
sf
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 22:06:38 GMT, Cindy Fuller
> wrote:

>
> One store here in Seattle was selling ground beef at 99 cents/pound on
> Sunday, mostly because ground beef from the mad cow was distributed
> hereabouts.


It was distributed in 6 states.


Practice safe eating - always use condiments
  #20 (permalink)   Report Post  
sf
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

On 8 Jan 2004 22:32:21 GMT, Michel Boucher
> wrote:


>
> Actually, politicians are not that smart. Program creators and
> administrators are career civil servants for the most part, with a dash
> of academic input and sometimes industry input. Politicians, if they
> are smart, do as they are told.


Perhaps Canadian politicians aren't very smart, but in the
US, a great many of our politicians were once lawyers and
that's why we have laws and regulations only a lawyer can
understand. They know how to take care of their own.


Practice safe eating - always use condiments


  #21 (permalink)   Report Post  
BOB
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

In ,
sf > typed:
> On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 22:06:38 GMT, Cindy Fuller
> > wrote:
>
>>
>> One store here in Seattle was selling ground beef at 99 cents/pound on
>> Sunday, mostly because ground beef from the mad cow was distributed
>> hereabouts.

>
> It was distributed in 6 states.
>
>
> Practice safe eating - always use condiments


Must have been one HUGE cow...


  #22 (permalink)   Report Post  
Michel Boucher
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

sf > wrote in
:

> On 8 Jan 2004 22:32:21 GMT, Michel Boucher
> > wrote:
>
>> Actually, politicians are not that smart. Program creators and
>> administrators are career civil servants for the most part, with
>> a dash of academic input and sometimes industry input.
>> Politicians, if they are smart, do as they are told.

>
> Perhaps Canadian politicians aren't very smart, but in the
> US, a great many of our politicians were once lawyers and
> that's why we have laws and regulations only a lawyer can
> understand. They know how to take care of their own.


Obviously, you missed the point. Politicians are smart in their own
area (they know how to get reelected), but not in the elaboration of
regulations. They don't write their own regulations but rather
approve regulations drafted by departments to administer X, Y and Z.
It's more efficient to have departments propose amendments than have
politicians do it.

Politicians will propose amendments to legislation or regulation in
debate, and these amendments may or may not be adopted, but they sure
as hell don't spend all their time writing reams of regulations.
Lawyers or not, they're not THAT good. If they were, they wouldn't
have chosen to remain rank amateurs and would have taken real jobs.

The law may be abstruse and labyrinthine to those who have trouble
reading plain language (having read some US laws over the years, I
know they are not beyond being cracked), but regulations should
clarify and elucidate what is intended by the law when it comes into
contact with the public. If you're really not getting that service
(instead of just complaining about not getting it), then you should
question how you are being administered instead of defending it.

--

"I'm the master of low expectations."

GWB, aboard Air Force One, 04Jun2003
  #23 (permalink)   Report Post  
Cindy Fuller
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

In article >,
" BOB" > wrote:

> In ,
> sf > typed:
> > On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 22:06:38 GMT, Cindy Fuller
> > > wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> One store here in Seattle was selling ground beef at 99 cents/pound on
> >> Sunday, mostly because ground beef from the mad cow was distributed
> >> hereabouts.

> >
> > It was distributed in 6 states.
> >
> >
> > Practice safe eating - always use condiments

>
> Must have been one HUGE cow...
>
>


No, it was because meat from the afflicted cow was mixed with that from
others before being packaged and shipped to 8 states. One family in the
Seattle area was confirmed to have consumed meat from this tainted
shipment, through records from their preferred customer card.

Cindy

--
C.J. Fuller

Delete the obvious to email me
  #24 (permalink)   Report Post  
sf
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

On 9 Jan 2004 16:13:45 GMT, Michel Boucher
> wrote:

> sf > wrote in
> :
>
> > On 8 Jan 2004 22:32:21 GMT, Michel Boucher
> > > wrote:
> >
> >> Actually, politicians are not that smart. Program creators and
> >> administrators are career civil servants for the most part, with
> >> a dash of academic input and sometimes industry input.
> >> Politicians, if they are smart, do as they are told.

> >
> > Perhaps Canadian politicians aren't very smart, but in the
> > US, a great many of our politicians were once lawyers and
> > that's why we have laws and regulations only a lawyer can
> > understand. They know how to take care of their own.

>
> Obviously, you missed the point.


Nope, I didn't miss the point you THOUGHT you made.
You didn't make it. However, I will agree that both of
us HATE Bush and think he is told what to do by advisors
who are totally out of touch with "commoners".
<he's the idiot in charge of the asylum>.


> Politicians are smart in their own
> area (they know how to get reelected), but not in the elaboration of
> regulations.


On a whole US politicians are smarter than either you or I.

> They don't write their own regulations but rather
> approve regulations drafted by departments to administer X, Y and Z.
> It's more efficient to have departments propose amendments than have
> politicians do it.


This is a common practice in business and politics. Heads
of Business and Politicans have their own ideas and float
them from time to time, but Big Businesses Board of
Directors typically have a staff who generato/research
ideas. Politicians have that type of staff too. Am I
surprised? NO, but you seem to be.

Our politicians are a lot smarter than you think.
Unfortunately, Clinton <a stupid Rhodes Scholar> squandered
our reputation and Bush flushed it down the toilet.

Fortunately, my visit to your lovely city this summer didn't
give me a single hint of your attitude. I thought the city
and province of Quebec were beautiful and the people were
absolutely accomodating to us (even outside of the tourist
sector). I refuse to think of Quebec as the type of hard
nosed, insensitive and pompus attitude that you represent to
us for your area. The people of Quebec were sweet and
lovely people - as are the rest of our Canadian neighbors.
>
> Politicians will propose amendments to legislation or regulation in
> debate, and these amendments may or may not be adopted, but they sure
> as hell don't spend all their time writing reams of regulations.
> Lawyers or not, they're not THAT good. If they were, they wouldn't
> have chosen to remain rank amateurs and would have taken real jobs.


You are a naive individual. Just look at my ex-mayor Willie
Brown and listen to how he is crying POOR as a result of a
"lifetime" in Public Service... well let me tell you that he
may be "poor" on paper, but he still has political clout and
he has a book deal in the works and he is being woo-ed for
big $$$ by some big law firms and who knows what other
busineses or agencies.
>
> The law may be abstruse and labyrinthine to those who have trouble
> reading plain language


LOL - then you know something most people here don't know.
I'm not saying you can't read, I'm not saying you can't
interpret legal terminology.... but I AM saying that you and
most thinking mainstream people don't know what the real
meaning of "is" is.

> (having read some US laws over the years, I
> know they are not beyond being cracked)


Yeah, CRACKED is the word... we're talking about reading
words in English without having at least two ways of
interpreting the language.

> but regulations should
> clarify and elucidate what is intended by the law when it comes into
> contact with the public.


Hello????

Dear Mr. "I Understand American Politics",

Real politicians here make what they do as obtuse as
possible to the general public. Politics is a game of cat
and mouse here. It's the nature of the beast.

> If you're really not getting that service
> (instead of just complaining about not getting it), then you should
> question how you are being administered instead of defending it.


Who are you to say anything about me, my country's politics
or how how it's admistered? You don't live here, you don't
vote here and obviously you don't have a clue.



Practice safe eating - always use condiments
  #25 (permalink)   Report Post  
Michel Boucher
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

sf > wrote in
:

>> > Perhaps Canadian politicians aren't very smart, but in the
>> > US, a great many of our politicians were once lawyers and
>> > that's why we have laws and regulations only a lawyer can
>> > understand. They know how to take care of their own.

>>
>> Obviously, you missed the point.

>
> Nope, I didn't miss the point you THOUGHT you made.
> You didn't make it. However, I will agree that both of
> us HATE Bush and think he is told what to do by advisors
> who are totally out of touch with "commoners".
> <he's the idiot in charge of the asylum>.


Actually, you did miss the point *I* was making which is that the
drafting of legislative instruments in parliamentary democracies,
where there is a division between the legislative and the executive
branches, is a more or less uniform system. But maybe you don't
actually know how legislation and regulations are drafted whereas I
work for the Parliament here in the area of publications and bloody
well know how legislation and regulations are drafted. And I have
some more than passing familiarity with how it is done in 13
provincial and territorial parliaments as well as some foreign
countries, including the US and Great Britain.

> Fortunately, my visit to your lovely city this summer didn't
> give me a single hint of your attitude.


Ah, yes, our lovely city...in which you were a tourist and didn't
speak the language. Your experience must have therefore been all
encompassing eh.

Talk about me being arrogant...boy, you take the forking cake...

--

"I'm the master of low expectations."

GWB, aboard Air Force One, 04Jun2003


  #26 (permalink)   Report Post  
sf
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

On Sat, 10 Jan 2004 08:35:49 GMT, sf >
wrote:

> On 9 Jan 2004 16:13:45 GMT, Michel Boucher
> > wrote:
>
> > sf > wrote in
> > :
> > >

> Actually, you did miss the point *I* was making which
> is that the drafting of legislative instruments in
> parliamentary democracies, where there is a division
> between the legislative and the executive branches,
> is a more or less uniform system.


You didn't even begin to make it.

> But maybe you don't actually know how legislation and regulations
> are drafted whereas I work for the Parliament here in the area of
> publications and bloody well know how legislation and regulations
> are drafted. And I have some more than passing familiarity with
> how it is done in 13 provincial and territorial parliaments as well as
> some foreign countries, including the US and Great Britain.


So, what's your point? Am I supposed to be impressed that
you're some sort of a government drone?

> > Fortunately, my visit to your lovely city this summer didn't
> > give me a single hint of your attitude.

>
> Ah, yes, our lovely city...in which you were a tourist and didn't
> speak the language. Your experience must have therefore been all
> encompassing eh.
>

All encompassing? So, how was my visit supposed to be? Was
I supposed to be spat upon or denied food & lodging? Was I
supposed to be tarred & feathered? Was I supposed to driven
out because I am a limited French speaking American Tourist?
Unlike you, the people of Montreal, Quebec City and Quebec
know how to accommodate American tourists. When I'm a
tourist, I expect to be treated as a guest and I got exactly
what I expected.

> Talk about me being arrogant...


You said "arrogant", I didn't.

> boy, you take the forking cake...


I wasn't close to being arrogant - but since you want to
take this all the way, I'll tell you that the frosting on
the cake for visiting Canada was getting that instant tax
rebate as soon as I came back across the boarder.







Practice safe eating - always use condiments
  #27 (permalink)   Report Post  
Blair P. Houghton
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

sf <icu2@pipeline dot com> wrote:
>On Sat, 10 Jan 2004 08:35:49 GMT, sf >
>wrote:
>> Actually, you did miss the point *I* was making which

>
>You didn't even begin to make it.


What?

--Blair
"Beef may not be expenisve enough."
  #28 (permalink)   Report Post  
Michel Boucher
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

sf > wrote in
:

>> > sf > wrote in
>> > :
>> > >

>> Actually, you did miss the point *I* was making which
>> is that the drafting of legislative instruments in
>> parliamentary democracies, where there is a division
>> between the legislative and the executive branches,
>> is a more or less uniform system.

>
> You didn't even begin to make it.


I did but as you clearly don't understand it, there's no sense in
pursuing this any further.

>> But maybe you don't actually know how legislation and regulations
>> are drafted whereas I work for the Parliament here in the area of
>> publications and bloody well know how legislation and regulations
>> are drafted. And I have some more than passing familiarity with
>> how it is done in 13 provincial and territorial parliaments as
>> well as some foreign countries, including the US and Great
>> Britain.

>
> So, what's your point? Am I supposed to be impressed that
> you're some sort of a government drone?


Ah, how quaint. The ubiquitous resort to the ad hominem. You could
just apologize for being so pig-headed, but no, you have to be
insulting instead because you have lost this argument and can't exit
gracefully. At least it's clear that you really haven't got a clue
:-)

>> Ah, yes, our lovely city...in which you were a tourist and
>> didn't speak the language. Your experience must have therefore
>> been all encompassing eh.
>>

> All encompassing? So, how was my visit supposed to be?


Obviously it met your needs...whatever those might be.

>> Talk about me being arrogant...

>
> You said "arrogant", I didn't.


You've said "arrogant" before. And you alluded to it by mentioning
my "attitude", intimating that the rest of those you met in Québec
were proper Sambos, not uppity like me.

>> boy, you take the forking cake...

>
> I wasn't close to being arrogant


Bwahaha!!!! There are none so blind as you are.

> - but since you want to
> take this all the way, I'll tell you that the frosting on
> the cake for visiting Canada was getting that instant tax
> rebate as soon as I came back across the boarder.


Wait, are you saying that you benefitted from a federal government
(of Canada) program that rebates your sales tax to you? You got your
16% back...big whoop-te-do. If that's what's important to you, then
let me congratulate you. You, not Bush, are the master of low
expectations! :-)

--
"I'm the master of low expectations."

GWB, aboard Air Force One, 04Jun2003
  #29 (permalink)   Report Post  
WardNA
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why is beef so expensive?

>One family in the
>Seattle area was confirmed to have consumed meat from this tainted
>shipment,


And I take it they, too, have been scheduled for slaughter?
Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Don't we somehow enjoy the more expensive than the less expensive? [email protected] Wine 5 23-11-2014 05:13 PM
Very expensive nuts Bryan[_6_] General Cooking 26 09-01-2013 05:29 AM
Very expensive vinegar! [email protected] General Cooking 7 13-05-2008 06:29 PM
Dining out could get expensive Phred General Cooking 4 30-07-2006 06:47 PM
Grappa: why so expensive? jmcquown General Cooking 25 09-12-2003 04:35 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:15 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 FoodBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Food and drink"