How the U.S. got into an infant formula mess

Re:How the U.S. got into an infant formula mess by chiefalchemist on Friday May 20, 2022 @08:02AM (#31446164)

"The episode highlights how highly concentrated the formula industry is — thanks in part to government policies — and the risks that can result."

The sad irony is, the "solution" is certainly going to be throwing more Fed government at it.

As long as were willing to put more eggs in Uncle Sam's basket (read: pocket), we're going to be subject to these "catastrophic failures."

Yes, governing is difficult, central governing even more so. Yet we insist on continuing to play to its weaknesses. And we keep adding more eggs.

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Re:How the U.S. got into an infant formula mess by sharemywin on Friday May 20, 2022 @08:17AM (#31446295)

To me less government regulation would reward larger factories which is what got is into this mess in the first place. Concentration of manufacturing. Most of the federal regulations I know of are around employee safety and excessive labor exploitations, safer environmental practices, or consumer safety. And I'm not sure I've seen where less regulation has had a good track record on this things.

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Re:How the U.S. got into an infant formula mess by chiefalchemist on Saturday May 21, 2022 @10:22PM (#31464330)

Let's not talk about less or more. Let's just focus - for now - on who and what is. The point is, we are where we are. What got us there?

That is, it's not a matter of less regulation or more. It's a matter of we have some form of regulation and that favors some and not the other. That's not a judgement. It's a statement of fact.

The point being, too often we assume legislation / policy is neutral / agnoagnostic. That's a false assumption.

In short...whether less or more, legislation / policy is a thumb on the scale for someone, somewhere, somehow.

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Re:How the U.S. got into an infant formula mess by Jtype on Friday May 20, 2022 @10:02AM (#31447522)

The larger factories existed within the currently high government regulation, so assuming larger factories would result from less regulation isn't in evidence.

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Re:How the U.S. got into an infant formula mess by sharemywin on Friday May 20, 2022 @03:12PM (#31451382)

"so assuming larger factories would result from less regulation isn't in evidence." there's no evidence that less regulation will make markets more competitive either. but, economy of scale is a pretty well know market phenomenon.

but, I'm going to look into your argument. Is government regulation a major contributing factor to market consolidation.

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