“Remember when President Biden and progressives last year accused meat packers of colluding to fatten their profits. Are they now conspiring to lose money?,” the institute said in a news release.
It pointed to quarterly reports by Tyson Foods which lost money for the first quarter since 2009.
It did not include the recent report from JBS SA that it lost $390 million in its first quarter, mainly because U.S. cattle prices increased by 18 per cent while wholesale beef prices inched up by only two per cent.
The institute said “as we explained in “Carving Up Biden’s Inflation Beef” (Jan. 7, 2022), the gusher of pandemic transfer payments swelled demand for more expensive meat products and contributed to a labor shortage that constrained production.
“When supply exceeds demand, business margins increase as markets ration scarce goods via prices.
“Yet Democrats alleged a corporate conspiracy. Mr. Biden claimed that rising meat prices and profits reflect “the market being distorted by a lack of competition” and “capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism; it’s exploitation.”
“Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren accused Tyson of abusing its ‘corporate market power and raking in record profits by jacking up meat prices’.”
