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HOLY COW

Milk Prices Could Double in New Year

Inaction by Congress would push U.S. over 'milk cliff' on Jan. 1

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t +

Milk prices could go up to $6 or even $8 a gallon in the new year if Congress doesn't act soon.

The threat of what dairy industry officials are calling the "milk cliff" looms as Washington is preoccupied with negotiating a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" -- $500 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that would begin Jan. 1.

Unless Congress passes a new farm bill by New Year's Day, an antiquated dairy pricing formula will kick in. This system is based on production costs in the 1940s when everything was done by hand. The formula would force the government to buy dairy products at roughly twice the current market price, which would drive up costs for everyone. Milk sells at an average of $3.65 a gallon, the New York Times said

The higher prices could force consumers and the makers of dairy products like butter, cheese, and yogurt to seek out cheaper alternatives like soy milk or cow's milk imported from other countries, the article said.

Via the New York Times
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Would you still buy milk if it cost $6 a gallon?

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88 Comments (view in Forum)

  • PoliticalSpice
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    @SavageMazx yea, lactose intolerant, politically intolerant. But i do
    Love yougurt butter and cheese. A tip. I find my ability to tolerate milk/dairy has a lot to do with overall deit. I find when i am behaving, avoiding white stuff (flour, rice, pototo, etc.) avoiding sugar, alcohol, animal fat, etc. and good, fruits, veggies, brown rice, whole grains, fisg, that my tolerance for dairy increases, not milk, mind you, but cheese. Don't know why, my guess is the body has a tipping point of how much stuff it will tolerate before an allergen will effect one. Just wanted to share that, it has made it possible for me to enjoy cheese and yougurt that i had refrained from for years till i discovered this...

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  • martydotcom
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    @EMS_Servant I can't say I'm too anxious to try it. I think I'd prefer to go Kosher and use, a non dairy creamer. Never could handle a beer before lunch LOL

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  • Bobolinsky
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    But let's stop and think about this a moment. It's not that the price of milk will double because of a scarcity of supply... It will double because of government intrusion in the first place that was incorrectly dealt with up to this day.

    It's stuff like this that's packed into that 70,000+ pages of tax code.

    Scrap the whole friggin' thing and start fresh.
  • Bobolinsky
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    Are you kidding? That would legitimize him.

    In politix's defense though... Mark Levin, Thomas Sowell, Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter didn't make the cut either.

    Look on the bright side though... Politix didn;t insult us by including Dick Morris, Karl Rove, or Stephen Colbert.
  • Bobolinsky
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    I'd like to see a poll question like... "Who is the most libertarian pundit?"

    That would be interesting to see who politix and participants alike think of as "libertarian."
  • PoliticalSpice
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    I was wondering why george will, peggy noonan, pat buchanan didn't make the cut. They actually sometimes make me think about my positions. Rush just makes me laugh...
  • Zazziness
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix Your statement makes it very clear you have no idea how food stamps work Do yourself a favor -- Google food stamps in your state. You shouldn't have much trouble finding a government page that tells you what it takes to qualify for assistance like that and how much you would get. If you knew the reality, maybe you'd stop being so jealous of poor people.
  • tomincali
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    @Zazziness here ya go. http://www.myfoodstamps.org/eligible.html

    some states pay more some less. one thing for sure anyone on food stamps if they cannot eat well something is wrong. add in wic and the other new program were other vouchers are given to go along with this so they can use these vouchers at farmers markets.

    a worker would have to make over 20 an hr to get what those on welfare get when you combine all things have to get out the calculator to get the exact amount.
  • bsking
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    @Zazziness the feds have launched a new website to help people cash in. I will not site it, but a local newswoman who reported on it said she "qualified" for 51 different " benefits" avaiable . I am not sure if we are advertising this during mexican soap operas like we were the snap program .

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  • woodtick57
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    @Libertyiskey

    aren't all questions legitimate? What alliance? The whole dairy industry is propped up with subsiIes, as is the whole agricultural market.
  • Big-R
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    I guess I will be stocking up on powdered milk. I haven't had it since I was a kid, but if milk hits $6, I will drink the heck out of powdered milk.
  • RoyFloyd
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    Guinness for me, although I try to buy American, enjoying some of the fine ales coming from Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada. Milk? Haven't had much since Nixon was president, but I will miss cheese if the price skyrockets. BTW, why is the federal government obligated to buy milk in the first place? Yeah, I know why, but I'm sure there are others who can explain it much better.
  • Belin
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    Only because I have a seven year old.
    Thanks Obama! All this fiscal cliff stuff could have been put off a other year for you idiots up there to come up with something, but nooo you had to say this year or bust. It just shows exactly how much Obama cares about the American people!
  • dkpayton
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    lol this is an easy one all the american people have to do is stop buying it for two weeks. soon as they see they cant sell it the price will come down..people seem to forget they cant do it without us..i dont care how big a corp is if the american people wont support it it is powerless...
  • MadAmerican
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    This where people are really duped. If congress can control the price of milk then why can't they control the price of a gallon of gas. I get tired of hearing that the president or congress has nothing to do with it when the majority of smart people in the U.S. know they get millions for re-election campaign money, and some even have stock in them. I have already started buying things only made in America-therefor I do not shop at Walmart because the majority of their beef is imported along with clothing. Let milk go to $8.00 a gallon and ground beef to $10.00 a pound and you'll see congressmen and women being hung in city streets by angry starving mobs.
  • MadAmerican
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    If Obama had worked as hard on the fiscal cliff as he did vacationing at taxpayer expense all around the world we would not be having this talk right now.
  • Sonny
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    @MadAmerican Yet another republican myth...Obama is constantly working on the "fiscal cliff" and ALL of the other problems of this nation----It the man takes one day off the entire right wing is all over his A$$....What you really need to do is tell your repubs in congress to get off of their butts and work with this president to find a compromise---and get off of the Presidents back!!!
  • FFX_VA
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    If congress doesn't act "an antiquated dairy pricing formula will kick in" doubling the price, is this the best government can do for us? BTW, since 1989 if congress "doesn't act" they get an automatic pay raise, they seem to have gotten that to work well.
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