Meatonomics: How the Rigged Economics of the Meat and Dairy Industries Are Encouraging You to Consume Way More Than You Should

Praise for Meatonomics......Page 2
Title Page......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 8
CONTENTS......Page 9
AUTHOR'S NOTE......Page 10
INTRODUCTION......Page 11
Meet the Owners......Page 12
Is It Sustainable?......Page 14
The Price We Pay......Page 15
How Did We Get Here?......Page 16
The Purpose of This Book......Page 18
I: INFLUENCING THE CONSUMER......Page 22
Checkoff Programs: Unseen and Unknown, But Felt Everywhere......Page 23
Checking Out Checkoffs......Page 26
Weird Science......Page 28
The Dubious Value of Checkoffs......Page 33
Food for Thought......Page 34
2: Massaging the Message: Shaping Consumer Beliefs......Page 35
A Flu by Any Other Name......Page 36
What's in a Name?......Page 37
Hearts and Minds......Page 38
Hitting Below the Belt......Page 41
Protein Preaching......Page 42
Where Do You Get Your Protein?......Page 43
The Meaning of Is......Page 45
Food for Thought......Page 47
3: Sausage Making and Lawmaking: Influence in the Political Process......Page 49
Money Talks......Page 50
There Oughta Be a Law—Common Law and Animal Protection......Page 52
Humanity Dick—Statutes and Animal Protection......Page 53
Customary Farming Exemptions......Page 54
Enforcement Challenges......Page 55
Wrist Slapping......Page 57
Cheeseburger Laws......Page 58
The Green Scare......Page 59
Let's Get Federal......Page 61
The Twenty-Eight-Hour Law......Page 62
The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act......Page 63
Factory Problems—Rare or Routine?......Page 66
Rethinking Corporate Benevolence......Page 68
Food for Thought......Page 69
Who's in Charge?......Page 70
Labeling GE Foods......Page 71
Food Safety, the FDA Way......Page 74
USDA to Americans: Avoid Unhealthy Food but Please, Buy More of It......Page 76
Just Say Yes to Cheese......Page 78
Arsenic in the Meat......Page 79
What's in a Name?......Page 80
Behind the Revolving Door......Page 81
Food for Thought......Page 83
II: THE HIDDEN COSTS OF MEATONOMICS......Page 84
Cheap Meat......Page 85
Externalities: Looking Outside the Box......Page 86
An Upside-Down Industry......Page 87
Feeding at the Trough......Page 90
Who Gets the Handouts?......Page 91
Buying the Farm in Rural America......Page 92
Subsidies and the Rise of Factory Farms......Page 94
Beggaring the Neighbors......Page 95
Monsanto Appreciates Your Donation......Page 97
The Bill We Love to Hate......Page 98
Food for Thought......Page 99
6: Diseases and Doctor Bills......Page 101
Meat and Disease......Page 102
How We Stack Up......Page 105
Obeying the Law of Demand......Page 106
Retail Prices and Consumption Levels of Animal Foods......Page 109
Much Meat, Much Malady......Page 111
Fecal Contamination and Bacterial Disease......Page 112
Antibiotics......Page 113
Hormones in Milk and Beef......Page 115
Adding It Up......Page 116
Is It Fair to Count These Costs?......Page 118
Food for Thought......Page 119
7: The Sustainability Challenge......Page 121
Farming and Nature......Page 122
Sustainability Solutions......Page 123
“Sustainable” Meat Production?......Page 124
Pondering Polyface......Page 125
Manic for Organic......Page 126
Loco for Local......Page 130
Adding Up the Costs......Page 132
Meet Your Dirt......Page 133
Pesticides and Fertilizers......Page 134
A Bunch of Manure......Page 135
Where Were the Regulators?......Page 136
The Case against Industrial Vegetables......Page 138
What It All Means......Page 139
Food for Thought......Page 140
8: The Costs of Cruelty......Page 142
Fish and Pain......Page 144
Down on the Fish Farm......Page 145
Fish Kill, the Farm Way......Page 146
Why Consider Fish?......Page 147
Measuring Cruelty's Costs to People......Page 148
What Now?......Page 149
Food for Thought......Page 150
9: Fishing Follies......Page 152
Incidental Taking......Page 153
Subsidies on the High Seas......Page 155
Fish Farming......Page 157
Sustainability Issues in Fish Farming......Page 158
Where Are the Little Fish?......Page 160
The Future of Fish Farming......Page 162
Adding It Up......Page 164
What's Missing?......Page 165
Rethinking Supply and Demand......Page 166
Food for Thought......Page 167
10: Recipes for Change......Page 169
Summary......Page 170
The Solution......Page 172
Be the Change......Page 173
Pigs, Pigou, and the Pigovian Tax......Page 175
Taxing Meat and Dairy......Page 178
A Tax Credit in Every Pocket......Page 179
Revamping the USDA......Page 180
Hunting the Bounties......Page 181
The Meat Tax Delivers......Page 182
Trade-Offs......Page 183
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 191
A Red Flag for Red Meat: Issues with Beef and Pork......Page 193
Dairy Dairy, Quite Contrary: Issues with Milk, Cheese, and Butter......Page 196
Egg-cess: Issues in Eating Eggs and Chicken......Page 201
Something's Fishy: Issues in Eating Seafood......Page 203
Appendix B: Summary of the Annual Externalized Costs of US Animal Food Production (in billions)......Page 205
Weighted Average Elasticity Rate......Page 208
Changes in Subsidies and Other Support......Page 209
Drop in Consumption......Page 211
Tax Credits......Page 212
Lower Government Payments Under Medicare and Medicaid Programs......Page 213
Change in US Treasury's Cash Flow......Page 214
Declines in Externalized Costs......Page 215
It's a Hog's Life......Page 216
Veal Calves......Page 218
Battery Cows......Page 219
The Chicken and the Egg......Page 220
Life in the Industrial Henhouse......Page 221
Innovation in Egg Production......Page 222
Forced Molting......Page 223
The Uncontrollable Urge to Act Like a Chicken......Page 224
Cage-Not-So-Free......Page 225
The Secret Lives of Chickens......Page 226
Enriched Cages......Page 228
Introduction......Page 230
Chapter 1......Page 233
Chapter 2......Page 237
Chapter 3......Page 241
Chapter 4......Page 247
Chapter 5......Page 252
Chapter 6......Page 258
Chapter 7......Page 266
Chapter 8......Page 274
Chapter 9......Page 277
Chapter 10......Page 283
Appendix A......Page 289
Appendix C......Page 293
Appendix D......Page 294
INDEX......Page 299
ABOUT THE AUTHOR......Page 320
TO OUR READERS......Page 321