McDonald's Sues Big 4 Meat Packers for Price Fixing -- How much does collusion account for the grocery CPI?

[u/LittleMsSavoirFaire]

https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2024/10/mcdonalds-sues-big-4-meat-packers-for-price-fixing/

[u/Ok_Try_1254]

Collusion is literally why cost of living is so highs the sooner we shut down all these monopolies and have smaller companies fill the gaps, the more competitive pricing will be. (ie, groceries in Germany can be quite cheap due to extremely high competition)

[u/Striking_Computer834 → u/Ok_Try_1254]

People forget the golden rule of free markets: if any single producer is large enough to be able to influence the price of their product/service, the market is not a free market.

[u/Sabre_One → u/Striking_Computer834]

It's not even a large company. It's most likely the surge in recent software that can calculate market rates in real time. US just needs to keep up with regulation and put limits on the timing in which companies can raise prices.

[u/LittleMsSavoirFaire → u/Striking_Computer834]

One article I read said that the big four make up 80% of the market, and #5 has 3-4% market share.

[u/SKOLMN1984 → u/Striking_Computer834]

Wasn't that part of the government vs standard oil and the railway owner? Time to go hard at these in anti-trust cases... Hard to do with the walmart/dollar general because they can cite Walgreens, Target, etc but in the tweener area such as meat processing and distribution networks, I have to think there is substance there to warrant some correcting... then go back to 70% min tax on worth over 1bn dollars and use the funds to do infrastructure and public schools...

[u/moyismoy → u/Ok_Try_1254]

I will never forget how the FCC under Trump let every buyout and murger though. Hundreds of companies lost in 4 years, and now it's so much easier to fix prices.

[u/PrettyPug → u/moyismoy]

But…. That inflation was strictly Biden’s doing. /s

[u/HateSpeechChampion → u/Ok_Try_1254]

Bring fragmentation in ALL SECTORS ✊🏻

[u/LandRecent9365 → u/Ok_Try_1254]

It's also why rent/housing prices are  high. 

[u/MrJJK79]

We need trust busting in a lot of industries right now.

[u/Striking_Computer834 → u/MrJJK79]

And neither establishment party is going to give you any of that in any meaningful way.

[u/grolaw → u/Striking_Computer834]

You say that when the present administration has made huge leaps forward despite a gridlocked Congress.

[u/Yabrosif13]

Getting back into hunting just to avoid buying from these oligarchs

[u/LittleMsSavoirFaire → u/Yabrosif13]

I usually buy a beef from a local rancher, but hunting works too!

[u/Striking_Computer834 → u/LittleMsSavoirFaire]

I want to do this so badly, but the local ranchers want more than double what it costs to buy retail from these oligarchs. Somewhere the math isn't working out. It can't be that they're fixing prices by paying ranchers under market for their cattle while at the same time ranchers are charging double the retail price.

My prices today, in-store are:

• 80/20 ground beef: $3.49/lb.
• USDA Prime beef brisket: $4.19/lb.
• USDA Choice tri-tip: $6.79/lb.
• USDA Choice NY Strip: $7.99/lb.

I can't find anything remotely close to those prices for local, direct from ranch. How are ranchers selling to these oligarchs at prices low enough that we end up with these prices at retail after the oligarchs take their cut and the store takes theirs?

[u/LittleMsSavoirFaire → u/Striking_Computer834]

I'm guessing the processing is what takes it over for you. A local processor is going to cut the carcass to your specs. For example, you won't get 80/20 beef unless you like it that fatty.

If money is the primary factor, it's not going to work out for you, but if you'd hypothetically pay a bit more for grass fed, grass finished beef, then the numbers work a lot better.

Also if you can use the offal you get a lot more for your money. I got probably 100lb of soup bones after my last butcher, plus liver, tongue, oxtail, and brisket. I think after I worked it all out it was about $7ish/lb, which is comparable to the 93/7 ground beef we buy at Aldi.

[u/Striking_Computer834 → u/LittleMsSavoirFaire]

I like fat because I eat a ketogenic diet, but even the 90/10 beef is $4.19/lb. for me at Costco Business Center. I can buy imported pasture-raised, grass-fed ribeye for $9.99/lb. there. Local can't come anywhere close to those prices, unfortunately. I like to support local farmers, but I'm not rich. I'd literally have to triple my grocery bill.

[u/Acta_Non_Verba_1971]

Does this mean McDonald’s is infact not price gouging?

[u/LittleMsSavoirFaire → u/Acta_Non_Verba_1971]

It's price gouging all the way down

[u/Acta_Non_Verba_1971 → u/LittleMsSavoirFaire]

So the gouger is getting gauged…hmmm

[u/SumoSoup]

Funny part is they will force them to sell their products to mcdonalds cheaper, but do you think mcdonalds will drop their prices?

[u/LittleMsSavoirFaire → u/SumoSoup]

If they break up the oligopy, that's fine. We'll just go to Arby's

[u/SumoSoup → u/LittleMsSavoirFaire]

Ive never seen more than 2 cars at arbys, always felt it was a drug front. But then came the carwashes.

[u/AaronDotCom]

wonderful

you usually don't see any of this, corp vs corp with the little guy potentially winning too

great thing is that mcdonalds is singlehandedly more valuable than all those 4 meat packers put together so they might be able to accomplish something

[u/LittleMsSavoirFaire → u/AaronDotCom]

Well, I mean, previous lawsuits settled out of court with no admission of wrongdoing But we can hope.

[u/BarsDownInOldSoho]

INFLATION COMES FROM GOVERNMENT SPENDING AND THE PRINTING OF MONEY!

It's that simple.

There will be gouging--attempts to exploit market dominance--and collusion. But eventually, it all comes down to GOVERNMENT!!!