Enjoy That Cheeseburger While You Still Can

It may not be much longer before the ad slogan "Beef, It's What's for Dinner!" will be obsolete.

"Beef: What We Used to Eat"

The "Cow Tax" (and the "Pig Tax") are coming. Don't let the reassuring words from Washington bureaucrats cause you to let your guard down. The Enviro-Nazis are chomping at the bit to have their people installed in Washington, D.C., and the "Cow Tax" is a logical extension of their proposed policies largely because your average small to medium farmer has little political clout these days.

The EPA has already suggested a $175 per cow tax "to combat global warming." How this combats global warming - and I don't even believe global warming is a problem - is a mystery other than it will discourage many ranchers from owning cows.

Oh, Dave! you complain. Farmers will just pass the $175 on to the consumer.

In theory you are correct. In reality, it doesn't work that way. Individual farmers are singularly ineffective at controlling the markets they are so dependent on. That's because middle-men (increasingly mega-corporations) control supply and demand, much of that through coordination with the federal government. Small and medium farmers are at the mercy of forces that often do not seem to correlate with the laws of supply and demand. And it's been this way ever since government began inserting itself into the farming business in the early 20th century.

So many farmers and ranchers will decide to raise only the number of animals underneath the cap, which means just enough for themselves and their families. Major beef and pig operations will be able to pass the tax along to the consumers. Bottom line: the rich get richer, the individual farmer gets the short end of the stick, and the consumer gets the shaft.

And the world goes right on warming. Or cooling. Depending on the whim of the Almighty.

Our nation's food supply becomes less diversified and thus less reliable while our economy continues its meltdown and the vast majority of Americans wouldn't know how to raise a green bean if their lives depended upon it. And someday soon lives may well depend upon it.

If the EPA takes the action it has published, it will take Congressional action to exempt cows and pigs from the carbon tax. Under Nancy Pelosi-Harry Reid, how likely is that to happen?