Bureaucrats vs. babies: how government caused the baby formula shortage

 Jesus singled out children as subjects of special care and protection. He rebuked His disciples for not letting children come to Him and threatened millstones to those who cause littles ones to stumble. And of course He said “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.”

If giving water to a little one carried a special reward, what judgment lies in store for those who prevent others from giving bottles to thirsty babies? Given the tragic, unjust and unnecessary government edicts which have led to the recent shortage in baby formula, that’s a question our government should be asking itself.

The shortage of baby formula first appeared last fall and was due to supply chain bottlenecks resulting from the pandemic. Then in February, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shut down the Abbott Labs plant that produces around 23% of all formula in the country. U.S. manufacturers produce 98% of all formula sold here. Just four companies produce 90%. This raises a lot of questions.

Millennials Want The Big State To Fix Problems Which It Caused

Source: AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

We free marketeers are talking past millennial socialists. We tend to replay old film footage of the horrors of the USSR, China under Mao, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, hoping to frighten them out of their puppy love with socialism. Millennials respond by saying they don’t want to repeat any of those disasters; all they want is for the rich to share their wealth with others, like the Nordic countries. It won’t lead to tyranny. What’s wrong with that?

Some millennials find just the existence of billionaires disgusting and want to euthanize the class. Those whom envy consumes I can only recommend that they learn to love their rich neighbor as they love themselves. Those who think that billionaires have caused poverty by taking from the poor need to learn real economics.

Baptists and bootleggers explains lofty stock market

Jason Zweig, who writes the Intelligent Investor column for the Wall Street Journal, posted recently about “Disturbing New Facts about American Capitalism.” He wrote:

“Modern capitalism is built on the idea that as companies get big, they become fat and happy, opening themselves up to lean and hungry competitors who can underprice and overtake them. That cycle of creative destruction may be changing in ways that help explain the seemingly unstoppable rise of the stock market."

Zweig cites new research by academics that claims the US is moving to a “a winner-take-all system in which giants get stronger, not weaker, as they grow.” The evidence consists of higher concentrations of market share among just a handful of companies. For example, the top four grocery chains hold 89% of the market. The top four real-estate service companies command 78%. In intro to economics those are called oligopolies.