Makin' Bacon
Prices, People, and Pigs
TODAY'S RAMBLINGS
3 Minute Read
Happy Monday. Tuna sandwiches on Friday? And now bacon? Yes.
As I chart a course for this blog during the Second Trump Reich, I will attempt to take the same approach as my hero Sam Harris (this closed out his Reckoning essay I shared Friday).
I'm not going to spend the next four years obsessing about Donald Trump. As I've said before, I consider him one of the greatest opportunity costs for humanity to appear in my lifetime. The fact that we've had to think about this man continuously, for a decade, is just an incredible piece of bad luck.
So, I'm going to do my best to pick my moments.
And that’s what I am going to do, too. I want to think of things other than Trump, his administration, and what’s coming next because of them.
But that doesn’t mean I will not continue to advocate for things in which I believe.
Like the need for reasonable regulations and fairness. There must be guardrails - especially now. Allow me to illustrate with - shocker - a story.
As I am happy to tell anyone who asks (and plenty who don’t), I grew up not far from a meat packing plant—specifically, the Tobin First Prize factory in Albany, NY pictured above. While I often exaggerate my proximity (we lived about 2 miles away), one could smell what was going on there from our very middle-class home.
So I literally grew up near where bacon was made.
Put another way, I did not grow up elite in some posh enclave. Indeed, some of my friends’ fathers made bacon themselves at the meat packing plant to support their families.
Now? Pricey bacon was recently a major topic, with attendant calls for fewer or no regulations to bring the price down.
But what should bacon cost? Please consider this list:
Companies and their management making the bacon should be fairly compensated
The workers making the bacon should be paid a living wage and have health coverage
The workers making the bacon should be protected from harm while on the job
The animals that are the bacon should be treated humanely throughout the process
Eating the bacon once it’s made shouldn’t make anyone sick
Which of the above can we change so bacon is cheaper?
COMPANIES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT
I am a capitalist and believe in the profit motive - to a point. But here, management needs to be regulated more, meaning taxes should be raised on the top 10%, which have done disproportionately well in the past quarter century; the graph is from the Congressional Budget Office.
For example, the CEO of Kraft Heinz, which makes Oscar Mayer bacon, made $11.4 million last year. I am guessing Miguel Patricio could get by on $8 million?
Kraft Heinz itself? In 2023, their net profit was $2.8 billion, on sales of $20.1 billion. That’s a lot of cheese and ketchup.
WORKERS: LIVING WAGE, ETC.
What is the alternative? If we don’t establish a Federal minimum wage that allows those working full-time to live above the poverty line, what do we do with the poor people and their children? We bemoan the hollowing out of the middle class yet don’t pay people so they and their families can live in dignity.
Health care is the same thing: Pay now or pay later.
And a Fun Fact: There were approximately 36,000 employees at Kraft Heinz in 2023. With their net profit last year, the company could have given each one an almost $75,000 bonus and still made money.
WORKERS: SAFE WHILE WORKING
Is it OK that factories employ undocumented workers because they know they’ll keep their mouths shut about unsafe and/or unhealthy conditions on the cutting-room floor?
Is that ethical? But when those here illegally are deported, who will do the work, and should they be safe while doing it?
ANIMALS: HUMANELY TREATED
Frankly, this is bad enough as it is and you either believe in the humane treatment of animals, or you don’t.
I am a proud carnivore and in the former camp. Because . . .
EATING THE BACON
. . . shouldn’t make you sick.
And if there were no enforced regulations about working conditions, how animals are raised and treated, and then how the bacon is made, stored, and shipped, you would, indeed, get sick. Perhaps you’re ready to trust the companies, but not me.
So what should bacon cost?
FROM THE UNWASHED MASSES
Byron Browne IV is clearly not happy, so I’ll give him a pass for slamming Sam Harris.
Love the recipes, hated the article by Sam Harris.
Even - or rather especially - if it is true that transgenderism was one of the top reasons why people voted for Trump, what does that say about the American people?
The fact that Americans care more about an issue that impacts only 1 out of 200 (using his own numbers) more than they do about Trump's character, all the laws he violated, his mishandling of our secrets, and creating an insurrection, is an even more damning statement on where we are as a country.
It also speaks to how little attention people give to the policy proposals. Ugh.
Oh, Byron, don’t despair: we have RFK Jr., Kristi Noem, and Vivek Ramaswamy on the job. And maybe even Matt Gaetz as our nation’s top law enforcement official!
What could possibly go wrong?
Thank you for reading this newsletter.
KLUF
Featuring the incredible ballad “Sing for Your Meat,” here is one of my favorite Guided By Voices albums.