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Is the USDA a Captive Agency?

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Is the USDA a Captive Agency for Packers?

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Econ101

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Organization for Competitive Markets

For Immediate Release

December 15, 2005

Contact: Chase Carter, Executive Director 402.817.4443

www.competitivemarkets.com

GAO Report Confirms Need for Legislative Reforms to Mandatory Price Reporting

Lincoln, NE ~ On December 12, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting program. The report shows serious flaws in the Mandatory Price Reporting law and confirms the need for legislative reform, say representatives of the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM).

Chase Carter, OCM Executive Director says the time is right for congressional intervention directed at enhancing the program. "The GAO report finds that many meat packers are not reporting data to the U.S. Department of Agriculture correctly, and in some instances, packers are failing to file price reports altogether. These gaps in reporting affect the accuracy of overall price reports to livestock producers and result in biased or incorrect pricing information. In addition, the report finds that USDA is failing to let the public know when these price reports are inaccurate. It's clear the law needs modifications to improve accuracy and transparency, which will benefit both buyers and sellers of livestock," commented Carter.

The Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting program expired on September 30, 2005, after the House and Senate failed to reach agreement on an appropriate extension of the law. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed legislation that would have extended the Livestock Price Reporting Act for one year, allowing producers and other interested parties to receive and examine the GAO report before extending the law for a longer period.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a five-year extension of the act. Senators have been unwilling to approve a longer extension until problems in the price reporting system identified by the GAO are adequately addressed.

The report revealed the following:

~ The GAO observed and reported lengthy lag times by USDA in correcting problems when packers failed to report, or provided incorrect information. The GAO found that packers incorrectly reported or failed to report required information 64 percent of the time. Many of the GAO audits show, on average, USDA was taking roughly 85 days to ensure a packer made needed corrections to the information.

~ Coordination between the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and the Grain Inspection and Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is limited, hindering GIPSA's ability to monitor and correct trends of anti-competitive behavior. The GAO found this is due, in part, to the lack of legal authority for GIPSA to review company specific information. The GAO found that GIPSA is better equipped to review longstanding patterns of anti-competitive behavior, whereas the goal of AMS is primarily to ensure price information is collected quickly and turned around for daily and weekly price reports.

~ Since enactment of the reporting program in 1999, USDA has yet to collect any penalties from packers for violations of program requirements, even in cases of longstanding violations.

~ Packers are not consistently and reliably reporting data to USDA within deadlines specified by the Act.

~ USDA has been adjusting or excluding packer date but not making this practice public to buyers and sellers of livestock or the general public.

Randy Stevenson, OCM Vice-President said one of the most problematic findings in the GAO report, beyond USDA's obvious failures in enforcing the law, is the lack of information exchange between GIPSA and AMS. "This situation is a bit like putting Matt Dillon on Festus Hagin's mule and sending him out to patrol Interstate 40 through Kansas for speeders. It is unacceptable for the information gathering arm of the program not to communicate violations of the law with the enforcing agency. Similar finds were published in a GAO report on GIPSA about six years, and have remained unattended. Price information must be complete, accurate and timely to be of any value to buyers and sellers," noted Stevenson.

"This is indicative of a much greater overall problem at USDA. It is a commonly accepted fact among livestock producers that USDA is a puppet for mega-corporate agriculture. The GAO report proves there have been blatant violations of the mandatory price reporting act by the packing industry, resulting in anti-competitive practices, shielding any price manipulation that could be occurring," Stevenson continued. "The report is proof that USDA initiates very few corrective steps, nor have the violators been punished. How much more evidence do we need before an overhaul is undertaken at the highest levels of the people's agency?"

The Organization for Competitive Markets is an agricultural free market and competition think thank working for honesty, prosperity and economic liberty for farmers, ranchers and rural communities.
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
Never under estimate the ability of a mule. Especially RUTH. :cowboy:

You got that right, BMR. Except in this case, if that mule is on interstate 40, (as reported in the press release), he certainly isn't traveling in KS. Someone forgot to look at the map before they went to press with this.

Let's see....worthless poll to start the thread......Organization for Competitive Markets got their mule on the wrong highway again......RCalf is joined at the hip with OCM......Haymaker is an RCalf officer.....is that rascal writing OCM's press releases too?
 
Just a thought, but would individual ID not help to make mandatory price reporting more accurate?

And then the costs of ID would also be a benefit to the rancher.
 
Murgen said:
Just a thought, but would individual ID not help to make mandatory price reporting more accurate?

And then the costs of ID would also be a benefit to the rancher.

Here's another thought; what is so dang hard about reporting the sale in the first place? Are the forms complicated? Is the deadline too soon? Or is it simply negligence due to no threat of any consequense for not following the law?
 
Beefman said:
Big Muddy rancher said:
Never under estimate the ability of a mule. Especially RUTH. :cowboy:

You got that right, BMR. Except in this case, if that mule is on interstate 40, (as reported in the press release), he certainly isn't traveling in KS. Someone forgot to look at the map before they went to press with this.

Let's see....worthless poll to start the thread......Organization for Competitive Markets got their mule on the wrong highway again......RCalf is joined at the hip with OCM......Haymaker is an RCalf officer.....is that rascal writing OCM's press releases too?

Beefman, do you think the GAO is in some sort of conspiracy with R-CALF?
 
Econ101 said:
Beefman said:
Big Muddy rancher said:
Never under estimate the ability of a mule. Especially RUTH. :cowboy:

You got that right, BMR. Except in this case, if that mule is on interstate 40, (as reported in the press release), he certainly isn't traveling in KS. Someone forgot to look at the map before they went to press with this.

Let's see....worthless poll to start the thread......Organization for Competitive Markets got their mule on the wrong highway again......RCalf is joined at the hip with OCM......Haymaker is an RCalf officer.....is that rascal writing OCM's press releases too?

Beefman, do you think the GAO is in some sort of conspiracy with R-CALF?

You're the conspiracy guru.....not me.
 
Look no further than the wording of this phony poll written by the undisputed king of forum phonies to see the worst kind of bias imagineable.

How pathetic.


USDA is responsible to all U.S. citizens, not just packers and not just packer thumb suckers.


The problem with MPR is that it is a government mandate and not a voluntary program. The problem is not the packers reporting because voluntary price reporting always worked just fine. Nebraska Cattlemen's has a voluntary marketing program that covers many feedlots. In exchange for reporting your prices, you get price reporting information from many other packers. VOLUNTARILY! Plus they report a degree of value based on a guess of how they might grade. That's better than reporting no value at all which USDA does.

The problem is a complicated dumb assed "SAVE US FROM OURSElVES AGAIN" government mandate that reports price but not the value the price is based on.

Typical of most government run "MANDATORY" programs.

"M"COOL would even be worse.

This is what happens every time the blamers pass another law.

WE DON'T NEED THE DAMN GOVERNMENT TO FORCE FEEDERS TO REPORT PRICES. NEBRASKA CATTLEMEN HAVE IT FIGURED OUT VOLUNTARILY.



~SH~
 
SH, "USDA is responsible to all U.S. citizens, not just packers and not just packer thumb sucker"

How are they responsible to all U.S. citizens when a court has established that they are to be given deference?
 
~SH~ said:
Look no further than the wording of this phony poll written by the undisputed king of forum phonies to see the worst kind of bias imagineable.

How pathetic.


USDA is responsible to all U.S. citizens, not just packers and not just packer thumb suckers.


The problem with MPR is that it is a government mandate and not a voluntary program. The problem is not the packers reporting because voluntary price reporting always worked just fine. Nebraska Cattlemen's has a voluntary marketing program that covers many feedlots. In exchange for reporting your prices, you get price reporting information from many other packers. VOLUNTARILY! Plus they report a degree of value based on a guess of how they might grade. That's better than reporting no value at all which USDA does.

The problem is a complicated dumb assed "SAVE US FROM OURSElVES AGAIN" government mandate that reports price but not the value the price is based on.

Typical of most government run "MANDATORY" programs.

"M"COOL would even be worse.

This is what happens every time the blamers pass another law.

WE DON'T NEED THE DAMN GOVERNMENT TO FORCE FEEDERS TO REPORT PRICES. NEBRASKA CATTLEMEN HAVE IT FIGURED OUT VOLUNTARILY.



~SH~

SH, do you have voluntary laws in your state of South Dakota?
 
Sandbag: "How are they responsible to all U.S. citizens when a court has established that they are to be given deference?"

Explain yourself!


Conman: "SH, do you have voluntary laws in your state of South Dakota?"

Most of us conservatives try to prevent MANDATED programs that could be voluntary from becoming law in the first place.

Amendment E was a short sighted law by the blamers to ban corporations from entering SD and this was ruled unconstitutional by the courts. One more example of the blamers losing when the facts were laid on the table.


~SH~
 
~SH~ said:
Sandbag: "How are they responsible to all U.S. citizens when a court has established that they are to be given deference?"

Explain yourself!


Conman: "SH, do you have voluntary laws in your state of South Dakota?"

Most of us conservatives try to prevent MANDATED programs that could be voluntary from becoming law in the first place.

Amendment E was a short sighted law by the blamers to ban corporations from entering SD and this was ruled unconstitutional by the courts. One more example of the blamers losing when the facts were laid on the table.


~SH~

According to the GAO, have the packers been forthcoming in being "voluntary" in providing correct market information?
 
Conman: "According to the GAO, have the packers been forthcoming in being "voluntary" in providing correct market information?"

I haven't seen the "FULL GAO REPORT" or the response to these allegations. What I have seen is a report of the GAO report from the packer blamers. I have many questions regarding what information is being requested and what information is being provided and the relevance of each.
I am not about to pass judgement on the portion of the GAO report that the packer blamers bring to the table and CERTAINLY NOT ANYTHING YOU POST.


~SH~
 
~SH~ said:
Conman: "According to the GAO, have the packers been forthcoming in being "voluntary" in providing correct market information?"

I haven't seen the "FULL GAO REPORT" or the response to these allegations. What I have seen is a report of the GAO report from the packer blamers. I have many questions regarding what information is being requested and what information is being provided and the relevance of each.
I am not about to pass judgement on the portion of the GAO report that the packer blamers bring to the table and CERTAINLY NOT ANYTHING YOU POST.


~SH~

Go play ostrich. Why don't you go read the GAO report yourself? I did. I printed it off and read almost the whole thing. I have posted where you can get the GAO report. Maybe we should have the "SH reviews the GAO Report". Write it on toilet paper so at least someone can get some use out of it.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:
Sandidol: "How are they responsible to all U.S. citizens when a court has established that they are to be given deference?"


SH, "Explain yourself!"

Don't dummy up. The ninth court said the USDA should be given deference - we are to step aside and let them do what they want because they're supposed to have the expertise to know what they're doing.
 

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