“Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.”
Norway fucked up on eggs this year. They feared overproduction, so they made a subsidy for egg producers not producing.... resulting in an egg shortage this Easter.
https://euroweeklynews.com/2024/03/30/scramble-for-eggs-norway-face-easter-egg-shortage/
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They...feared overproduction?
Were they worried about depleting resources or something?
I wrote a lengthy reply to a similar question:
Subsidy for... . . .
Did United Russia take over Norway?
Why is overproduction a bad thing? Doesn't everyone just get cheaper food as a result?
It seems that the Norwegian egg-business is always in trouble somehow. Just like farmers elsewhere complaining about the weather, it's an endless moaning.
EU is pushing for a shorter shelf-life on eggs to be able to make a more rapid response against salmonella, and while Norway isn't in EU and generally don't have the salmonella issue, they still have to trade with EU. Fear of chicken flu is also lowering the demand for eggs.
Overproduction is bad because it can make the price go so low that it doesn't make sense for anyone to do. Especially in a country like Norway where the cost of living is extremely high. They simply can't compete, so the state offers money to keep the businesses closed while the free market can't pay them, and to keep domestic production from competing too much internally.
It's not uncommon to see this situation in EU, where it is sometimes possible to buy a plot of agricultural land and do nothing with it only to get paid by EU for leaving the land alone. The EU is a trade union, so the main purpose internally is to direct the trades to those who can do it best and cheapest within the borders. It's a good thing though. In the 1990s there was a massive overproduction of all kinds of foods that would eventually rot up in stocks all over Europe. Overproduction is a cost if the goods cannot be sold.
Norwegian eggs are not exactly a big business, but I do believe it's a net export for them, so I think the subsidy is made to keep the egg producers in business even if the export is lowering for different reasons. If they didn't pay chicken producers not to produce, the producers would have to stop production due to low revenue from temporarily missed sales and eventually leaving Norway without a realistic capability of producing for their own market.
Anyway, it backfired at the Easter peak demand. It may still make sense later.
I heard they jacked up prices due to the Avian Flu. They culled over 80,000,000 egg laying hens
That was 17% of the total population. The price went up by 400-900%, and there was never a shortage. As usual, we got shafted.
There absolutely was a shortage.
the current outbreak of the virus that began in early 2022 has prompted officials to slaughter nearly 82 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens, in 47 U.S. states
Getting downvoted, but no one has a factual counter argument.
The best part is they’ll raise prices due to “inflation” or whatever, then when supply increases…the prices don’t go down!
I’m honestly wondering what the end game is for these MBA asshats ruining everything. Is it really that many people so selfish and myopic that we have to suffocate on this one planet and never reach?
This is very relevant.
Weber’s company, Sunrise Farms, had to slaughter its entire flock of egg-laying hens — 550,000 birds — to prevent the disease from infecting other farms in Sonoma County
During the past two months, nearly a dozen commercial farms have had to destroy more than 1 million birds to control the outbreak (as of 27 Jan 24)
the current outbreak of the virus that began in early 2022 has prompted officials to slaughter nearly 82 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens, in 47 U.S. states
In California, the outbreak has impacted more than 7 million chickens in about 40 commercial flocks and 24 backyard flocks
Also, shit: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/01/texas-cows-bird-flu-human-infection/
Eggs were. At least for me, I can no longer afford eggs.
I don't shame people for buying unnecessary things. But, I will think you are a little stupid if you are nearly starving but have a brand new car. You aren't responsible for the system you live in, but you can at least try to make it a little better for yourself.
I'm not talking about people that just spend some money for something they like, quality of life is important. I mean people that will literally cripple themselves financially just for a status symbol. Especially if you have people that rely on you.
Brand new luxury car is perhaps more apt for your example.
Can be hard to find a way to pay monthly for used cars, I believe, vs. plentiful options for installments on new ones.
Can you point to specific examples of someone you have encountered in your daily life, someone who is nearly starving... but chooses to spend their money on an unnecessary indulgence? Because it sounds like you're otherwise just perpetuating stereotypes.
Nearly starving is almost an impossible to do involuntary in the United States, so that's poor criterion to use here.
But yes I know many people who fit the description, who go on trips, buy cars, expensive clothes to improve their image, when they don't have the income nor the savings to support it.
What if you need a car to get to job interviews? If you don't get the brand new car, you can't get to job interviews, so you lose the unemployment benefit because the government feels you don't deserve it?
Or you need the car to get to the job because the public transport is so shit and unreliable that the car is the only way to get there without fail and if you rely on public transport then you risk getting fired if you are late again?
Sometimes people have reasons that might not be obvious but are there because of the system.
you can buy a new car two years ago when finances were good, and then suddenly, shit hits the fan, prices get fucked, you no longer have a job, and you can't find one trivially. Suddenly you have no money, and a really nice car.
My family recently just traded in both cars for newer models, we're doing alright at the moment, but it's definitely a possibility.
A car is not a very liquid asset. I've know people with very nice cars who experienced a change in their economic situation and had to pick up from the food bank in a brand new SUV. I've known people to live out of a mercedes benz.
Shame the rich who can waste money on a 100k Patek Philippe fucking watch.
I'm a lot less concerned about watches than about cars (much bigger environmental impact) and real estate (very closely tied to a huge chunk of most people's livelihood).
Yup - God forbid poor folks have nice things rather than funneling every penny they earn to the rich to satisfy their ever-increasing hunger for money.
The average person earns £1,000,000 in their lifetime, and I struggle to see the justification in anyone, and I mean anyone being worth 100s, 1000s, or even over 100,000 human lifetimes.
It's sickening to see hard-working people having to fight month after month to survive on meager earnings while some dickheads are out there buying megayachts that cost a human lifetime per year just to maintain.
i'm all for not shaming people and everything, but we also do need to be conscious about what we're buying and consuming.
You probably don't need a macbook, and if you do need a laptop, there are almost certainly better options that are cheaper, and more repairable. Please don't buy a macbook, they aren't good products. (though now with M series macs they actually do work, kind of)
consumerism is not good, we shouldn't be encouraging it. We should be encouraging conscious spending.
They’re posting this on a platform where people like me read it. People who eat $1.50/loaf, bread sandwiches, to save money. This is just after clearing the threshold to qualify for food stamps this month.
As a non-american, is $1.50/loaf supposed to be expensive or cheap?
$1.50/loaf is pretty cheap. You can find $1.00/loaf at Dollar Tree stores. The cheapest alternative would be to make your own loaf of bread. If you buy an expensive, organic loaf of bread, it can be over $5.00/loaf.
100% yes. And start shaming rich people for wanting us to eat bugs and live in coffins while they live in giant mansions and eat all the real food they want.
Bugs are a source of cheap protein too, and it's more of a cultural thing that they are not prevalent in most western cuisine. And there's nothing wrong with small apartments; there are more needed anyways, since people tend to live alone these days. If there were more small, cheap living spaces in the US, then the suburban carcentric design, where you can't reach a grocery store without a car, would have real competition. Higher population density also helps out communities because of lower infrastructure costs.
I'm not rich, but there's nothing wrong with different food and small living spaces.
To be more specific, there’s nothing wrong with those things being a CHOICE. The problem is with specific individuals telling people that millions of others need to cut their carbon footprint to near zero so that they, as an individual, can keep using their private jet without feeling guilty. And that attitude can go die in a hole. But you knew that.
Do both. Most people won't do the right thing unless they're pressured into it. I don't give a shit if you want a tablet, that's your problem - I do give a shit if you buy a new tablet every couple years when the old one works just fine. Swap "tablet" for pretty much any non-essential thing.
Non essential as in…if you are poor you deserve the basic nutrients to not die and that’s it?
America is the richest most powerful country this globe has ever seen and you want to shame poor people for wanting the occasional shiny thing?
Also, why the fuck would anyone work for a regime that is destroying the world for all future and some current generations, AND has thrown them away in a way we make a crime to do with our actual literal garbage? Fuck you if you want me to, y'know?
Meat and dairy are NOT essential.
And before all the people start chiming in with incorrect posts about how vegetables are more expensive, they are not. The cheapest and best forms of protein are from vegetables. You can save a lot of money and your health by eating more vegetables.
100% the truth. Whole food plant based is one of the cheapest ways to eat, be healthy, and save money
Exactly, and that's with billions of tax dollars spent on meat and dairy subsidies.
Meat and dairy are not essential, but food is essential.
The biggest problem is the supply chain and food deserts, I have 34 different grocery stores within a 1km walk of my house, this doesn't even include the fresh market and the 50 something stall holders.
Meat and dairy will never be essential for me, I have so many options that are actually cheaper and easier.
But the shop that services the 50km radius around my dad's place is lucky to have a tin of beans that isn't Heinz in tomato let alone a tin of beans at all. I'll talk about how cheap it is to feed my family on a $2/250g of dried chickpeas and $1 bag of assorted leafy greens, and my dad will send me a photo of the IGA shelf where the 400g tin of lentils is $4 a can and the tuna is $1.50, so I know what my dad's having for dinner.
You're not essential.
How about doing neither, like a decent human being?
The rich should be shamed for exploiting workers.
