France Government To Spend €200M To Destroy Wine As Demand Falls

[Guest]

that because the french prefer MJH.

[LaLa 19,898]

my country (Canada) destroys like 30 million litres of milk a year despite the fact that milk is a basic food staple and extremely expensive, so nothing shocks me 

[Emvee 8,831]

A reminder that scarcity is manufactured for the benefit of a few influential industries 

[PartySick 172,545]

There's some outlets around me that destroy clothing that hasn't sold and toss food that's not spoiled yet, just near the sell by date, then they pour chemicals like bleach in their dumpsters to stop people from taking stuff.

Which, I understand not wanting people dumpster diving, it's a liability, but why not just donate the clothes and food?

Anyway, this story has the same energy

[Economy 52,857]

5 hours ago, LaLa said:

my country (Canada) destroys like 30 million litres of milk a year despite the fact that milk is a basic food staple and extremely expensive, so nothing shocks me 

Im assuming this is before expiring?

 

[LaLa 19,898]

17 minutes ago, Economy said:

Im assuming this is before expiring?

 

Nope, it's a supply and price regulation thing, farmers will dump brand new milk straight down the drain 

[Economy 52,857]

11 hours ago, LaLa said:

Nope, it's a supply and price regulation thing, farmers will dump brand new milk straight down the drain 

Ah dam. I knew we had a supply management system for dairy which the US hates (It was one thing Trump was going after Canada for cuz it makes our market not very open)

 

But i didnt really think about how that might require dumping. Makes sense tho since u cant control 100% exactly what u produce

 

To be honest i dont like the system very much myself. While it has the benefit of guaranteeing farmers a more consistent income (something most industries dont have any guarantees of anyway so why they get special treatment?) But i think the cons outway those benefits too

 

Our milk, cheese and yogurt ends up costing more than in the states... it leads to more forced waste as you pointed out if a producer accidentally goes over their quota, and it doesnt promote efficiency and the same level of competition. Farmers have less incentive to try and compete to sell when their quota has already been determined for them

 

It has some benefits security wise. Every system has at least some pros. But overall across the board i think the cons outway the benefits

[Natalia Kills 418]

On 8/25/2023 at 11:41 PM, Roughhouse Dandy said:

This is capitalist thinking. To destroy product in the interest of saving profit is late stage capitalism at work. 

Yes, sort of. That said, this intervention is to protect livelihoods and preserve industries, profit is just a stepping stone to do so.

Like I said, a pure capitalist model would let the market crush the price and then let it return to stability. 

We shouldn’t boil everything down to the trope of capitalism being pure evil because we know it’s much more complex economically and every model is problematic, especially when it comes to implementing it. 

[Economy 52,857]

23 hours ago, Natalia Kills said:

Yes, sort of. That said, this intervention is to protect livelihoods and preserve industries, profit is just a stepping stone to do so.

Like I said, a pure capitalist model would let the market crush the price and then let it return to stability. 

We shouldn’t boil everything down to the trope of capitalism being pure evil because we know it’s much more complex economically and every model is problematic, especially when it comes to implementing it. 

Capitalism has always had its dark sides (like any system).

 

But when the government gets involved and tries to meddle and pick winners and loosers, they often make the dark sides even more amplified

 

True capitalism as u pointed out would have allowed prices to crash, consumers to benefit and low profits forcing the weakest companies out of business to correct over supply and return stability

 

Instead consumers dont get the price drop benefit, they pay the destruction cost and inneficient businesses stay with a subsity cost by tax payers

[Helxig 45,357]

On 8/26/2023 at 9:12 PM, Earthling said:

Okay I’m not a wine expert obviously, but can’t they just lock that stuff down in some dusty cellar until demand increases?

OR

process it into affordable resveratrol so we can all age backwards 

It’s the cheese caves all over again 

but the reservatrol is a great idea. Or some other similar way of finding an alternate use/market for it. They’re throwing a LOT of money into simply destroying it (which in the current global financial climate feels so evil and villainous.. even if they have their reasons)