"hi, I'm Max Baucas, I'd like you to consider taking US beef imports again into Japan. Consider the facts, the one cow found with BSE in the US was of Canadian origin. Yes, we're importing Canadian beef, but R-calf says only that beef is unsafe. Can we determine which is being shipped to you? Not yet, but if our COOL deal goes through, we would be able to tell you! When will COOL take effect? Well, probably just about the time that Canada institutes mandatory testing! But that shouldn't stop you from taking our beef, R-calf says we have the best safeguards in place ( they are just like Canada's),
Science, political or other? Oh, ours is based on trade sound science, isn't that what matters to the rest of the world? Because my sales barn owner told me that an extra $1/cwt is what counts, he gets 15% and that's what is driving our economy. Oh, the dollar, well that has been taken out of context, that has nothing to do with trade!"
Are the packers making a profit? But I'm sure they're not gouging you, they only make $3.88 per head, a lot less than R-calf memebers are touting!
I'll stop there, I think I'll have enough posts to answer in the next couple of hours!