Sucks to be you, poor people.
Egg prices are soaring in California, where the USDA says the average price for a dozen jumbo eggs is $3.16, up from $1.18 a dozen a year ago, and in some parts of the state it's more than $5. The Iowa State University Egg Industry Center says retail egg prices in California are 66% higher than in other parts of the West. National wholesale egg prices also climbed nearly 35% over the 2014 holiday period, before retreating. [...]
California's cage law is part of the nationwide animal-rights effort to raise the costs of animal food production in the name of more, well, humane treatment. Groups like the Humane Society of the United States failed to get Congress to pass national chicken-cage standards, so they turned to California to set what they hoped would be a de facto national standard because of the size of its market.
They could have achieved the same with an egg marketing board like we have in BC. Got to drive to Washington State to get the cheap ones. Poor California paying BC egg prices.
I will bet the so-called huge market in California is getting much smaller now!
Ahhh yes, commodity marketing boards - supply side command economics, the first vestige of soviet supply control and command economics in North American markets. Now these soviet-styled supply control apparatus are being used to mitigate agenda 21 policies - essentially rationing food supply under the aegis of green/PETA fallacious moralism.
Any jurisdiction with government intervention in the supply of food commodities is playing with needless consumer adversity.
End charitable status for organizations that run political campaigns
Any processed/prepared foods containing more than a trace of eggs will be supplied from out of state.
stop buying eggs and the price will drop like a stone, even if it is just grandma raising them in her backyard.
Pay higher prices for the sake of animal rights idiots Califoolnia home of Hollywood and Dosneyland
You sum it up well.
And yet, the people of California keep voting for the soviet thinking politicians.
On another ry but about the same a judge has overturned Californias idiotic ban on Foie Gras that was passed to appease those idiots from PETA and Humane Society
Getting to where egg smuggling is profitable. Brilliant, California. A new black market. Congratulations.
I'm with you to some extent here although I wouldn't mind paying more for food if it was the producer who benefited. We farmed for 30 years and the only money we made was when we sold.
Not to put a fly in anyone's ointment, but does everyone here think that the new cage requirements are unreasonable? My kid sell eggs. They cost 3 dollars a dozen delivered to the market. That's his cost. Also, just how much does a dollar or so for a dozen eggs impact the poor?
Seriously folks, this sort of posturing and over reacting is not good for conservatism or free market advocacy.
Yes I do John do you know why - it doesn't stop there. They are never done ... their real reasoning is that animals are people.
Posturing, over reacting - it never stops John and how has it got this far ? Too much posturing,and over reaction. Frankly myself I don't care what people think that cost me more money and take away choices - they really are (well meaning maybe) selfish intolerant pr---- that would scream the loudest if you did the same to them.
They pay a premium here in Ontario for "free range" - eggs , however you have a choice to buy them. That isn't my problem the problem is in that free market you talk of when the choice is removed.
Any farmer that gets in it for the premium might as well cut to the chase and start raising birds like they did back in the fourties or just quit raising them all together.
While I get your point, mugs I would submit that this isn't exactly a mandatory free range issue. Surely there are some standards of care for animals that are acceptable. If not there bloody well should be. The egg industry is certainly subject to regulation, as is any industry involving livestock since the public deems animal cruelty to be unacceptable. As I see it this reflects a move towards a higher standard of living for chickens. Is it going to lead to human rights for chickens? I have my doubts. Is it OK to keep chickens in tiny cages where all they can do is eat and lay eggs? Not if you ask me.
More to the point is that the extra cost is laughable. No poor people were hurt by this legislation. If we insist on making every argument into a 'because poor people' farce then we risk making fools out of ourselves. You want proof? How about the 'people are hurting out there' strategy used by the republicans in the last election.
John,
Is it OK for me to have to pay three times as much for eggs this year as I did last year to appease your sensibilities as to living conditions for chickens? Not if you ask me.
Is it OK for a family whose weekly food budget is $100 to have to add an extra $2 per week because of your concern over chicken wellness? Not if you ask me.
You'll say "poor people can afford an extra $2.00". And they can also afford an extra $1.00 phone tax, and an increased gasoline tax, and higher meat prices, higher corn prices [from corn being used for ethanol], higher electricity costs from renewable energy, etc, etc, etc. No single item is important, is it? Well, it is. Each and every dollar matters to those with the lowest 20% of incomes; they have no resources to turn to in order to offset increases in their cost of living. But you, of course, know better. And I know that, you being a generous and thoughtful fellow, you'll personally subsidize each and every one of them who is backed into a financial corner.
Umm yeah, i call BS on your 100 dollar food budget, stretched to the limit. I do have a fair amount of experience with the so called poor through 25 years as a landlord for a number of multi family units. I have never known one family whose budget was so tight they could not afford vices and luxuries. If you think that enough eggs for 6 to 8 breakfasts are a bargain at 3 bucks then i don't know what decade you are living in.
Also, you already pay more than you might for eggs since there are already rules and regulations which people probably screamed bloody murder about when they were introduced. If you want to pay a dollar a dozen for your eggs, buy powdered eggs from china.
To be blunt: Yes, you do have to pay a few more bucks for the sake of keeping animals in a decent manner. If you don't want to, eat a carrot and some beans instead. It isn't just my sensibilities involved. There is such a thing as right or wrong, and most people have the strange idea that this extends to animals as well. If you doubt me, why don't you buy a dog, put in a small box in your front yard and keep it there til til grows old and dies (in about 3 years or so i would expect). Then, when people come for you to prosecute you for animal cruelty you can tell them that you had to do this because eggs are too damn expensive. If you think the new regs are unnecessary, then say so and explain why they go too far, instead of spouting nonsense about families who are 2 dollars away from hunger and babbling about taxes.
And the biggest billy goat Gruff said..............