WebsterMark
Serious Thumper
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....and these are the guys we're turning healthcare over too?....
Seven dollars a gallon? That’s absurd? It’s an average of $3.56 today. Why would we let this happen?
The latest Farm Bill, enacted in 2008, is scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. If it expires, the 1949 Agricultural Act goes into effect, which includes a floor for milk prices.
Why would we let a bill that is more than 60 years old go into effect?
It’s what is known in Washington-speak as a “poison pill.” To give Congress extra incentives to pass a new Farm Bill, the current law includes provisions that if it were to expire at the end of the year, the 1949 law would go into effect. You could also call it an agricultural cliff.
How does the 1949 Agricultural Act get us to $7-per-gallon milk?
The 1949 bill mandates that the secretary of agriculture set a floor on prices for the milk sold by producers (usually dairy cooperatives) at what’s known as the parity price. According to the 1949 bill, that price is $39.53 per hundred pounds (PDF). The prevailing price for dairy producers is closer to $19 or $20 per hundred pounds. That $39.53 translates to roughly doubling milk prices, which means that the price for a gallon of milk would go up to about $7.
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