globalization vs. community
TRANSCRIPT
Globalization vs. Community
A Question of Economic and Social Well-Being
By Mike Callicrate
UCCS - Fall 2010
Photograph from the book, Great Ranches of the West ©2007 Jim Keen, All Rights ReservedRead a sample chapter and order the book at www.greatranchesofthewest.com – 800-363-5336
*All Fresh Choice Beef – USDA-ERS Data
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
50.0%
55.0%
60.0%
65.0%
70.0%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
19501975
1995 1996 1997 1998
2001
20001999
Farm share of the consumer retail beef dollar
Breakdown of Retail Beef Dollar - 1975When the market was competitive
Cattle Producer
Retailer
Packer
Producer raises a1,325 lb. animal andreceives 42.5% of
retail dollar ≈ $1,000
Retailer receives 49% of retail dollar selling556 lbs. of beef from a 1,325 lb. animal @ $4.26 per lb. average
price = $2,369
Packer receives 8.5% Kills 1,325 lb. animal for
around $200 per hd.
NOTE:Calculations are based on 2009 USDA-ERS dataRetail beef dollar calculation represents fresh beef consistently through the time period - doesn’t include value added products.Costs to make retail ready shouldn’t exceed 50 cents per lb. x 556 lbs. - about $250 per hd. Prepared By Mike Callicrate, St. Francis, KS
Breakdown of Retail Beef Dollar - 2010A picture of abusive market power and rural decline
Time from conception to retail meat counter is approximately 27 months.
More than 85% of total capital investment to put meat on the consumer’s plate is provided by the producer.
The producer has lost approximately$400 per head, or 20%, of their share of the consumer beef dollarsince 1980.
41% of U.S. cattle producers have gone out of business since 1980.
Approximately 1,000 cattle producers continue to go out of business every month.
Product turns every 7 to 14 days.Retailer gets ≈ $1,100 per hd..
Packer and retailer share less than 15% of the capital investment required to get product to consumer.
Concentration and resultingmarket power of the packer and retailer has taken away approximately 20% of the producer’s share of what the consumer spends - around $400 per head.
Market Concentration Kills Competition Four biggest packers control 88% of marketFour biggest retailers control 50.7% (FWW)
Big Packers and Retailers Cash InCattle Producers Go Broke
Retailer is grabbing $1,100
“Fast food has hastened the mauling of our landscape,
widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an
epidemic of obesity, and propelled a juggernaut of
American cultural imperialism abroad.”
The Dark Side of the All American Meal
Poorest counties by per capita income
Statistics derived from U.S. Census Bureau data; U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Survey of Current Business; and DataQuickInformation Systems, a public records database company located in La Jolla, San Diego, CA.
Note: The poorest counties are in rural cattle producing areas.
The wealthiest households reaped a sharply growing share of the nation’s income, while the share going to middle- and lower-income households shrank (see Figure 3). Between 1979 and 2007:
The top 1 percent’s share of the nation’s total after-tax household income more than doubled, from 7.5 percent to 17.1 percent.
The share of income going to the middle three-fifths (or 60 percent) of households shrank from 51.1 percent to 43.5 percent.
The share going to the bottom fifth of households declined from 6.8 percent to 4.9 percent.
The share going to the bottom four-fifths (80 percent) of the population declined from 58 percent to 48 percent.
In 2007, the top 1 percent received a larger share of the nation’s after-tax income than the middle 20 percent of the population. This represents a significant change from 1979, when the middle fifth received more than twice as much of the nation’s income as the top 1 percent (16.5 percent versus 7.5 percent).
“But the cruelest of our revenue laws, I will venture to affirm, are mild and gentle in comparison to some of those which the clamour of our merchants and manufacturers has extorted from the legislature, for the support of their own absurd and oppressive monopolies. Like the laws of Draco, these laws may be said to be all written in blood.”
- Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, 1776
“I believe that if trade is not fair for all,
then trade is free in name only. I will
not stand by and watch American
workers lose their jobs because other
nations do not play by the rules.” - Ronald Reagan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvuiIn3ej4Y&feature=related
“We will never have true
civilization until we learn to
recognize the rights of
others.”
-Will Rogers
There is no greater threat to human social and economic well-being than the concentration of power and wealth into the hands of a few.
Protectionism: The act of protecting. In global
terms it means protecting ones country from
ruin; avoiding policy, whether economic or
political, that results in the economic and social
destruction of a nation, its people and culture;
preventing the concentration of power and
wealth in the hands of a few global elites.
(Global elites: The gangsters (a.k.a. banksters), thugs and thieves that leverage one
nation’s economy against another until all wealth is accumulated in their hands.)
"I see in the near future a crisis
approaching that unnerves me and
causes me to tremble for the safety
of my country. . . . corporations have
been enthroned and an era of
corruption in high places will follow,
and the money power of the country
will endeavor to prolong its reign by
working upon the prejudices of the
people until all wealth is aggregated
in a few hands and the Republic is
destroyed."
-- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950,
NY)
N7100C – CargillN199HF – Hormel FoodsN97SJ – J.M. SmuckerN1897S – J.M. SmuckerN135FT – Albertson’sN46E – HuntN604CL – HersheyN654CM – Crossmark Corp.N457H – Bank of AmericaN606RP – Nestle Purina Pet Care Co.N102CX – CloroxN545CS – Wells FargoN604MU – Dean Mfg. Group
Trucks in St. Francis, KSSept. 6, 2009
Old Calnon place, So. of St. Francis
Winter day on Webster St.
Meanwhile, back on the farm…
“There isn’t one grain of anything in the world that is sold in a free market. Not one! The only place you see a free market is in the speeches of politicians.”
- Dwayne Andreas (Rats in the Grain, p. 306.)
ADM Mission:To unlock the potential of nature to improve the quality of life.
“We have a saying in our company: Our competitors are our friends. Our customers are the enemy.”
Under the NAFTA time frame, Archer
Daniels Midland's profits nearly
tripled - from $ 110 million to $ 301
million - and ConAgra's profits grew
from $ 143 million to $ 413 million
dollars. - Public Citizen
Corporate controlled globalization will
destroy food security, self reliance,
and reduce all food producing
countries to third world status.
- Mike Callicrate 2003
"The condition upon which God hath
given liberty to man is eternal
vigilance; which condition if he break,
servitude is at once the consequence
of his crime, and the punishment of his
guilt."
- John Philpot Curran, Irish lawyer and politician, July 10, 1790
Consumer Warning: Shopping at
Wal-Mart contributes to the economic destruction of rural America and your community! 2000
We cannot separate what we believe from how we act in the marketplace and the broader community, for this is where we make our primary contribution to the pursuit of economic justice.- U.S. Bishops 1986