George Marie Antoinette Bush: “Let Them Eat Bovine Encephalopathy-Infected Meat”

If you're still under the impression that our economy is based on capitalism or some sort of “free market,” this news item will shatter your illusions once and for all.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been inspecting about one percent of America’s beef cattle for Mad Cow Disease. (The official name is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or BSE.)

A Kansas meatpacking company, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, has been testing all of its cattle — 100% — for Mad Cow Disease. And being shrewd business people, they’ve been advertising this fact. Who wouldn’t?

Unfortunately this puts the large meatpacking companies in kind of an awkward position. And today’s bloated government-subsidized corporations don’t like awkward positions. Or competition. Or being one-upped by a smaller company.

So the large meatpacking companies have instructed their prostitutes at USDA to prevent Creekstone Farms from testing all of its cattle. And a federal Appeals Court judge — Karen LeCraft Henderson — has ruled that the USDA can indeed prevent a meatpacking company from going above and beyond the minimum requirements by inspecting all of its cattle and not just one percent.

That old cliché needs to be rewritten: Build a better mousetrap and your competitors will instruct the government to shut you down.

Traditionally it’s been liberals who wanted a certain amount of government regulation for the purpose of protecting public health, the environment, workers’ safety, etc. Conservatives have always railed against this “government meddling,” insisting that the “free market” will take care of everything.

Now we have the federal government PREVENTING a company from looking out for its customers and trying to deliver the best product they can. Is this what conservatives want? And what would you even call this economic system?

cross-posted at Bring It On!