I really don't think some of you people don't understand the problem. I want to put it another way.
Suppose a big cattle buyer who buys cattle off of your farm comes in, opens his trailer, and loads some of your cattle on his truck without paying for those cattle. You catch him, call the sheriff, the sheriff says that is a USDA problem, and so you call the USDA to come out and help you solve the problem. The USDA (GIPSA) comes out to your farm, sees that you have the a video tape of the buyer stealing your cattle, and there is no way that is any other explanation. They say that they will "investigate". They get the video tape and drop the whole investigation. Then you raise a ruckus because they didn't investigate. You talk to the right people, and give them a copy of the video tape and they put the heat on GIPSA. GIPSA sees that they can not just sweep it under the rug. They then up their "investigation", call the cattle buyer in, and act like they will really do something about it because they know they can't hide the crime. GIPSA re opens the investigation and just sits on it. More heat and a little publicity this time.
GIPSA knows they have to do something to show they are actually doing their job and the cattle buyer then gets a slap on the hand for what he did. The only problem is that he still did not pay for your cattle. GIPSA claims they investigated, took care of the problem and corrected it. You still didn't get paid for your cattle (sounds a little like Van Dyke here, doesn't it?).
If GIPSA can draw things out enough, the case will cool down and the heat will eventually fade away. You still didn't get paid for your cattle. GIPSA finally agrees that things have to change, slaps the cattle buyer on the hand, and says they took care of the problem. They still didn't pay for the cattle. The buyer's company starts putting out the propaganda. They say that the cattle were really bought, not stolen and present a copy of former purchases the buyer made of your cattle. Things seem to get muddy and it just isn't as clear a case anymore. They still didn't pay for your cattle. They buyer comes back to you, explains you made a mistake, that he was really picking up cattle he thought he had bought. He claims that it was part of the last purchase of your cattle and he just didn't collect all the cattle, you just must be mistaken. GIPSA stands behind his statement as if it were the gospel truth.
The buyer then tells you that if you don't accept the terms, he just isn't going to buy any more of your cattle. The buyer then tells all his buyer friends from the other major buyers who are doing the same thing not to come to your farm and buy any cattle if you try to sell them to him. They say, oh, don't worry, that isn't our territory, you have nothing to worry about.
By this time you are going crazy because you just want to be treated fairly and you know what is happening is a sham. You don't have anyone to buy your cattle, and they have to be moved. So you take your full load of cattle to the auction barn. The only problem is that the market is made at the cattle barn by those very buyers who are connected to the sham. A rumor goes out that your cattle have a problem. The 100 head you are selling get discounted by guess how much----the value of those cattle that had been stolen plus a few head.
All this time, the buyer was having meetings with GIPSA about the "investigation" and viewing the evidence. They see exactly how they were caught red handed.
By this time the GIPSA "investigation" is over and they come back to you with the results. They have agreed that the buyer may have made a mistake, but that it was an honest mistake. He buys a lot of cattle everywhere and sometimes mistakes do happen. The buyer comes by your place and with a lot of publicity gives you a check for the cattle that had taken off your farm for the "clerical" error.
From then on, your cattle just aren't the best cattle anymore. The "market" has changed, claim the buyers.
The buyers then get on with their same old tricks, this time being a little more careful. They watch for the hidden video camera that caught them the last time. They load an extra head on their truck at the same time they are taking delivery of other cattle they are buying from others
In the competition game, guess what, the buyers doing these things are winning because they routinely pick up a few head of cattle free here and there with no one taking the time to catch them as you have. No one else will try to catch them because all your friends who know what really happened see what happened to you. They don't want to have the same problem and their cattle "are still what the market wants".
The cattleman found out that he didn't know too little, he knew too much.
When this is brought up at the coffee shop, MRJ starts taking up for the packers and all their dumba-- excuses. She still has "cattle the market wants" and you just are not producing what the "market wants" anymore.
You are just a "whiner".
Of course the story doesn't end here.
During this time, Secretary Johanns is going around talking about the new farm bill. You get up and explain what has happened in the 2 minutes you have to talk about the issue. The moderator tries to cut you off. After the meeting's end you see the Secretary's wife and go talk to her. She says, "We have heard about these problems." You then ask her about the Sec. of Ag., and ask if he is a real person. She says yes, he is. He is interested in people. As a matter of fact, when he goes to the White House, he brings back pizzas from the White House to his staff and they all share in eating the pizzas. You then ask what can be done. She says that she doesn't know, that Tyson's is "pretty big on the hill" with a discouraging look on her face.
You are mad as HE--.
You find out that manipulation in the cattle business didn't help consumers after all because Tyson had big market positions in the substitutes of beef. They made a killing in chicken that the judges didn't see because it was never part of the original manipulation case. It was the unspoken ace in the hand.
You continue to raise a ruckus about what has happened. You organize your fellow cattlemen who have had similar problems but don't want to be put through the same thing as you. You are voted president of the association to fix these problems. You find out through further investigations that the buyers have been cheating all the other cattlemen with their complicated pay structure. You prove this mathematically. There is no question, it is just a pure simple mathematical proof. You try to get Farm Bureau to help. They talk to you but refuse any help. Oh, they were there when Tyson needed help on some environmental legislation and helped get cattlemen together to fight the fight that you later find out Tyson was behind. Farm Bureau doesn't do a thing to help.
You talk to all your the Congressmen you can, and explain what has happened. The republicans you talk to seem sympathetic and take on your cause. You finally get them to actually look into the matter. They have a meeting with the buyer's company, in this case it is Tyson. After the meeting with Tyson, your republican contact stops talking to you. After all, you are the only one they have heard from on this issue. They stop taking on your cause.
Meanwhile you have had other contacts, but they are democrats. The democrats are not in power at the time and they see this as an issue. You have done a Freedom of Information Request about similar GIPSA issues and got 7 pages of information back from GIPSA. They are all forms for complaints by GIPSA with no investigatory work at all. You know by now that other people have made the same complaints. You know there are a lot more complaints than the 7 you got back. One of the seven was your own complaint. None of the information you gave to GIPSA regarding the issue was given in your FOIA request. GIPSA charges you $1,960.00 for the FOIA request. You talk to the democratic staffers. One of the democrats asks for an investigation of GIPSA. The OIG does a report on GIPSA. it takes a LONG TIME. The report shows that you are not the only one who has had these problems with GIPSA and that their office is just one big scam after another. As a matter of fact, 1799 of the 1863 odd complaints had no work product that could be found. They had reported to Congress that they had done 1863 investigations and completed them. They also find that the Sec. of GIPSA and the upper staff have been hiding real investigations and their results that the lower offices have brought up to them. The report is so bad that the Sec. of GIPSA leaves. No one can find her, not even the reporters.
Not that many people pay attention to the report because, hey, there is a war going on.
This is just little stuff.
Still no real action.
You then find an attorney. You look at the industry, make all the contacts you can, and find the best attorney who has been handling these cases. She looks at your case and sympathizes with you. She knows the case well because she has seen it time and time again. She tells you, however, that the case will be hard to win because of the court system. It seems to be rigged. Of course she had some of those 1799 investigations that were hidden by GIPSA. She sees you are in a bind, and is all for your cause, only she sees the reality of what happens. These cases drag on for years. In the end, the big company usually settles but part of the settlement is that you can't say anything about it from then on out. It is a game of attrition, not justice.
Mean while, a with similar aspects that has worked its way into the court system is finally heard after years of discovery and other expensive legal work. The allegation is that Tyson has been cheating all of the cattlemen through a complicated little game of market manipulation. The jury comes back with a verdict unanimously against Tyson. The judge throws it out. It gets appealed. It is a little complicated--much more complicated than a lot of simpleton cattlemen can understand. Wall Street understands it. They have taken care of this kind of problem before. Of course they had big money on the side of where the cattlemen find themselves.
The appeals court finally looks at the case and says that the company can do what it wants if it has a "legitimate business interest". Of course a "legitimate business interest" means that if they are providing consumers with a better deal, it is okay. This has been the company's plan all along. By cheating producers through their formula pricing, they can offer their clients cheaper prices than their competitors who are not. They continue to gain market share and reduce the number of real buyers that go out and buy cattle. Other buyer's companies who are doing the same thing have lawsuits on the table too. They are all happy with the ruling. Of course it always helps to grease the wheels of those who make the decisions---or at least their bosses in Congress. The market is controlled by fewer and fewer buyers. One of the other arguments that Tyson had put up was that they had to do this because the other guys were doing it. That makes it all right, as long as "robin hood" shares the spoils with consumers. Consumers rule. Isn’t that the Walmart line?
You find out that 7 of the judges on the 11th circuit who made the ruling were appointed by Bill Clinton who had strong ties to Tyson. The former Secretary of Agriculture was even bribed by a top man at Tyson, was convicted, and Bill Clinton pardoned him. Bill’s wife, Hillary, who is later to run for president, made 6 figures off of commodities trading while the chief counsel for Tyson was advising her. Under Bill’s administration, the lawyers at the USDA were promoted into positions of power. They all had buddies in the industry they were regulating and had “contacts” with the big companies who employed the buyers who stole from you.
The Clinton administration knew how to get the FBI to give them files to get what they wanted done in government. After all, Bill Clinton appoints the head of the FBI.
During the new administration, you find out that the government now has the ability to track down everyone you have talked to on the phone. It is national security, after all. Later you find out that this power has been abused by the FBI. It seems like the same old Clinton game.
When the republicans came in power, they kept all those contacts. They needed campaign money too. Karl Rove knew where his bread was buttered and set out to make a “permanent majority” with their help. Karl talked to his majority leader in the Senate about their self interests. They could “buy” an image with this help. Heck---they had experience with this kind of help for Congressmen. Abramoff was an old friend of Tom Delay. They knew how to work the system. “Experience.”
This decision, your lawyer tells you, will make your case even harder to win. Of course it does. Juries don't decide facts in cases anymore, judges are interpreting the law. They know more about the law than people with cowsh--- on their boots. Of course the judges are appointed by the administration who has taken the "grease".
Meanwhile, GIPSA funds some "independent" studies to look at the problem. These studies are limited in scope to areas where the buyers have not been rustled. The studies show there is no problem in the industry and nothing needs to be done. Other studies funded by other agencies come to the same conclusion. Of course the architects of the study are the same people. It doesn't help that John Tyosn has been put on the board of regents for the land grant university that is doing the "independent" study. Oh, he is not on the board of the university that actually did the study, but like minded people are as is the president of the universities who manage the people who do the studies.
You are a little overwhelmed by it all. It is just too much. Your wife is scared because with the lower prices you are getting from your cattle business, you are about to go into foreclosure and go bankrupt. All your other investments (other backup) outside of the cattle business are going to be consumed by the monster.
You have to get out of the business and earn some money to pay your mortgages.
Some see what is happening on both sides of the border.
Canadian Jason, friend of another big buyer, Cargill, tells you it is the market working.
MRJ again blows the packer line.
Agman points out that he has the answer to the kind of cattle buyers are after and how much they want to buy. He knows the ins and outs of the business. He sells this information.
SH has left the scene, but not until he has totally made a circus act of himself.
BMR, Tam, Bill, and a lot of other Canadians are just interested in getting their beef sold in your market. They are all wrapped up in a problem the packers made to win the competition game. They will say anything to keep their buyers buying their cattle.
Have I left anyone out?
Oh, yes, Cowpuncher says don't blame big corporations, have a backup plan.
Suppose a big cattle buyer who buys cattle off of your farm comes in, opens his trailer, and loads some of your cattle on his truck without paying for those cattle. You catch him, call the sheriff, the sheriff says that is a USDA problem, and so you call the USDA to come out and help you solve the problem. The USDA (GIPSA) comes out to your farm, sees that you have the a video tape of the buyer stealing your cattle, and there is no way that is any other explanation. They say that they will "investigate". They get the video tape and drop the whole investigation. Then you raise a ruckus because they didn't investigate. You talk to the right people, and give them a copy of the video tape and they put the heat on GIPSA. GIPSA sees that they can not just sweep it under the rug. They then up their "investigation", call the cattle buyer in, and act like they will really do something about it because they know they can't hide the crime. GIPSA re opens the investigation and just sits on it. More heat and a little publicity this time.
GIPSA knows they have to do something to show they are actually doing their job and the cattle buyer then gets a slap on the hand for what he did. The only problem is that he still did not pay for your cattle. GIPSA claims they investigated, took care of the problem and corrected it. You still didn't get paid for your cattle (sounds a little like Van Dyke here, doesn't it?).
If GIPSA can draw things out enough, the case will cool down and the heat will eventually fade away. You still didn't get paid for your cattle. GIPSA finally agrees that things have to change, slaps the cattle buyer on the hand, and says they took care of the problem. They still didn't pay for the cattle. The buyer's company starts putting out the propaganda. They say that the cattle were really bought, not stolen and present a copy of former purchases the buyer made of your cattle. Things seem to get muddy and it just isn't as clear a case anymore. They still didn't pay for your cattle. They buyer comes back to you, explains you made a mistake, that he was really picking up cattle he thought he had bought. He claims that it was part of the last purchase of your cattle and he just didn't collect all the cattle, you just must be mistaken. GIPSA stands behind his statement as if it were the gospel truth.
The buyer then tells you that if you don't accept the terms, he just isn't going to buy any more of your cattle. The buyer then tells all his buyer friends from the other major buyers who are doing the same thing not to come to your farm and buy any cattle if you try to sell them to him. They say, oh, don't worry, that isn't our territory, you have nothing to worry about.
By this time you are going crazy because you just want to be treated fairly and you know what is happening is a sham. You don't have anyone to buy your cattle, and they have to be moved. So you take your full load of cattle to the auction barn. The only problem is that the market is made at the cattle barn by those very buyers who are connected to the sham. A rumor goes out that your cattle have a problem. The 100 head you are selling get discounted by guess how much----the value of those cattle that had been stolen plus a few head.
All this time, the buyer was having meetings with GIPSA about the "investigation" and viewing the evidence. They see exactly how they were caught red handed.
By this time the GIPSA "investigation" is over and they come back to you with the results. They have agreed that the buyer may have made a mistake, but that it was an honest mistake. He buys a lot of cattle everywhere and sometimes mistakes do happen. The buyer comes by your place and with a lot of publicity gives you a check for the cattle that had taken off your farm for the "clerical" error.
From then on, your cattle just aren't the best cattle anymore. The "market" has changed, claim the buyers.
The buyers then get on with their same old tricks, this time being a little more careful. They watch for the hidden video camera that caught them the last time. They load an extra head on their truck at the same time they are taking delivery of other cattle they are buying from others
In the competition game, guess what, the buyers doing these things are winning because they routinely pick up a few head of cattle free here and there with no one taking the time to catch them as you have. No one else will try to catch them because all your friends who know what really happened see what happened to you. They don't want to have the same problem and their cattle "are still what the market wants".
The cattleman found out that he didn't know too little, he knew too much.
When this is brought up at the coffee shop, MRJ starts taking up for the packers and all their dumba-- excuses. She still has "cattle the market wants" and you just are not producing what the "market wants" anymore.
You are just a "whiner".
Of course the story doesn't end here.
During this time, Secretary Johanns is going around talking about the new farm bill. You get up and explain what has happened in the 2 minutes you have to talk about the issue. The moderator tries to cut you off. After the meeting's end you see the Secretary's wife and go talk to her. She says, "We have heard about these problems." You then ask her about the Sec. of Ag., and ask if he is a real person. She says yes, he is. He is interested in people. As a matter of fact, when he goes to the White House, he brings back pizzas from the White House to his staff and they all share in eating the pizzas. You then ask what can be done. She says that she doesn't know, that Tyson's is "pretty big on the hill" with a discouraging look on her face.
You are mad as HE--.
You find out that manipulation in the cattle business didn't help consumers after all because Tyson had big market positions in the substitutes of beef. They made a killing in chicken that the judges didn't see because it was never part of the original manipulation case. It was the unspoken ace in the hand.
You continue to raise a ruckus about what has happened. You organize your fellow cattlemen who have had similar problems but don't want to be put through the same thing as you. You are voted president of the association to fix these problems. You find out through further investigations that the buyers have been cheating all the other cattlemen with their complicated pay structure. You prove this mathematically. There is no question, it is just a pure simple mathematical proof. You try to get Farm Bureau to help. They talk to you but refuse any help. Oh, they were there when Tyson needed help on some environmental legislation and helped get cattlemen together to fight the fight that you later find out Tyson was behind. Farm Bureau doesn't do a thing to help.
You talk to all your the Congressmen you can, and explain what has happened. The republicans you talk to seem sympathetic and take on your cause. You finally get them to actually look into the matter. They have a meeting with the buyer's company, in this case it is Tyson. After the meeting with Tyson, your republican contact stops talking to you. After all, you are the only one they have heard from on this issue. They stop taking on your cause.
Meanwhile you have had other contacts, but they are democrats. The democrats are not in power at the time and they see this as an issue. You have done a Freedom of Information Request about similar GIPSA issues and got 7 pages of information back from GIPSA. They are all forms for complaints by GIPSA with no investigatory work at all. You know by now that other people have made the same complaints. You know there are a lot more complaints than the 7 you got back. One of the seven was your own complaint. None of the information you gave to GIPSA regarding the issue was given in your FOIA request. GIPSA charges you $1,960.00 for the FOIA request. You talk to the democratic staffers. One of the democrats asks for an investigation of GIPSA. The OIG does a report on GIPSA. it takes a LONG TIME. The report shows that you are not the only one who has had these problems with GIPSA and that their office is just one big scam after another. As a matter of fact, 1799 of the 1863 odd complaints had no work product that could be found. They had reported to Congress that they had done 1863 investigations and completed them. They also find that the Sec. of GIPSA and the upper staff have been hiding real investigations and their results that the lower offices have brought up to them. The report is so bad that the Sec. of GIPSA leaves. No one can find her, not even the reporters.
Not that many people pay attention to the report because, hey, there is a war going on.
This is just little stuff.
Still no real action.
You then find an attorney. You look at the industry, make all the contacts you can, and find the best attorney who has been handling these cases. She looks at your case and sympathizes with you. She knows the case well because she has seen it time and time again. She tells you, however, that the case will be hard to win because of the court system. It seems to be rigged. Of course she had some of those 1799 investigations that were hidden by GIPSA. She sees you are in a bind, and is all for your cause, only she sees the reality of what happens. These cases drag on for years. In the end, the big company usually settles but part of the settlement is that you can't say anything about it from then on out. It is a game of attrition, not justice.
Mean while, a with similar aspects that has worked its way into the court system is finally heard after years of discovery and other expensive legal work. The allegation is that Tyson has been cheating all of the cattlemen through a complicated little game of market manipulation. The jury comes back with a verdict unanimously against Tyson. The judge throws it out. It gets appealed. It is a little complicated--much more complicated than a lot of simpleton cattlemen can understand. Wall Street understands it. They have taken care of this kind of problem before. Of course they had big money on the side of where the cattlemen find themselves.
The appeals court finally looks at the case and says that the company can do what it wants if it has a "legitimate business interest". Of course a "legitimate business interest" means that if they are providing consumers with a better deal, it is okay. This has been the company's plan all along. By cheating producers through their formula pricing, they can offer their clients cheaper prices than their competitors who are not. They continue to gain market share and reduce the number of real buyers that go out and buy cattle. Other buyer's companies who are doing the same thing have lawsuits on the table too. They are all happy with the ruling. Of course it always helps to grease the wheels of those who make the decisions---or at least their bosses in Congress. The market is controlled by fewer and fewer buyers. One of the other arguments that Tyson had put up was that they had to do this because the other guys were doing it. That makes it all right, as long as "robin hood" shares the spoils with consumers. Consumers rule. Isn’t that the Walmart line?
You find out that 7 of the judges on the 11th circuit who made the ruling were appointed by Bill Clinton who had strong ties to Tyson. The former Secretary of Agriculture was even bribed by a top man at Tyson, was convicted, and Bill Clinton pardoned him. Bill’s wife, Hillary, who is later to run for president, made 6 figures off of commodities trading while the chief counsel for Tyson was advising her. Under Bill’s administration, the lawyers at the USDA were promoted into positions of power. They all had buddies in the industry they were regulating and had “contacts” with the big companies who employed the buyers who stole from you.
The Clinton administration knew how to get the FBI to give them files to get what they wanted done in government. After all, Bill Clinton appoints the head of the FBI.
During the new administration, you find out that the government now has the ability to track down everyone you have talked to on the phone. It is national security, after all. Later you find out that this power has been abused by the FBI. It seems like the same old Clinton game.
When the republicans came in power, they kept all those contacts. They needed campaign money too. Karl Rove knew where his bread was buttered and set out to make a “permanent majority” with their help. Karl talked to his majority leader in the Senate about their self interests. They could “buy” an image with this help. Heck---they had experience with this kind of help for Congressmen. Abramoff was an old friend of Tom Delay. They knew how to work the system. “Experience.”
This decision, your lawyer tells you, will make your case even harder to win. Of course it does. Juries don't decide facts in cases anymore, judges are interpreting the law. They know more about the law than people with cowsh--- on their boots. Of course the judges are appointed by the administration who has taken the "grease".
Meanwhile, GIPSA funds some "independent" studies to look at the problem. These studies are limited in scope to areas where the buyers have not been rustled. The studies show there is no problem in the industry and nothing needs to be done. Other studies funded by other agencies come to the same conclusion. Of course the architects of the study are the same people. It doesn't help that John Tyosn has been put on the board of regents for the land grant university that is doing the "independent" study. Oh, he is not on the board of the university that actually did the study, but like minded people are as is the president of the universities who manage the people who do the studies.
You are a little overwhelmed by it all. It is just too much. Your wife is scared because with the lower prices you are getting from your cattle business, you are about to go into foreclosure and go bankrupt. All your other investments (other backup) outside of the cattle business are going to be consumed by the monster.
You have to get out of the business and earn some money to pay your mortgages.
Some see what is happening on both sides of the border.
Canadian Jason, friend of another big buyer, Cargill, tells you it is the market working.
MRJ again blows the packer line.
Agman points out that he has the answer to the kind of cattle buyers are after and how much they want to buy. He knows the ins and outs of the business. He sells this information.
SH has left the scene, but not until he has totally made a circus act of himself.
BMR, Tam, Bill, and a lot of other Canadians are just interested in getting their beef sold in your market. They are all wrapped up in a problem the packers made to win the competition game. They will say anything to keep their buyers buying their cattle.
Have I left anyone out?
Oh, yes, Cowpuncher says don't blame big corporations, have a backup plan.