Why Is There a Baby Formula Shortage?

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^That's a systematic ruin of market economy in baby products... in a country that opposes universal healthcare for the sake of the market

Wasn't it a problem during covid, too?

Man. Your whole approach to the market economy needs refreshing.
I wonder what kind of crisis would provide such opportunity.

The market makes lots of campaign contributions and has lots of lobbyists and offers employment to retiring politicians & government regulatory department bureaucrats.

The non-market doesn't.

But it's a bit like the companies own the country, instead of the country creating environment for companies.

I think you've hit the nail on the head when it comes to how the US government works. The whole system of campaign finance amounts to institutionalized bribery. Most of the rest of their issues can be traced to their government being bought and sold.

I prefer to think if it as, the companies persuade the country to create the environment for the companies to own the country.

And that condition goes back to the 1800s.

Indeed

Now, at the same time a bit of a tangent and a bit not a tangent,

With this and the FDA, who regulates baby formula, having been mentioned, my memory dredges up,

A Look At How The Revolving Door Spins From FDA To Industry
September 28, 2016 10:48 AM ET
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... o-industry
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More than a quarter of the Food and Drug Administration employees who approved cancer and hematology drugs from 2001 through 2010 left the agency and now work or consult for pharmaceutical companies, according to research published by a prominent medical journal Tuesday.

Dr. Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist and assistant professor at Oregon Health and Science University, sought to understand the so-called "revolving door" between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry, which he said is often discussed but hadn't been quantified.
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and

FDA's revolving door: Companies often hire agency staffers who managed their successful drug reviews
Job changes raise conflict of interest questions
5 Jul 2018 By Charles Piller
https://www.science.org/content/article ... successful
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says its rules, along with federal laws, stop employees from improperly cashing in on their government service. But how adequate are those revolving door controls? Science has found that much like outside advisers, regular employees at the agency, headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, often reap later rewards—jobs or consulting work—from the makers of the drugs they previously regulated.

FDA staffers play a pivotal role in drug approvals, presenting evidence to the agency's advisory panels and influencing or making approval decisions. They are free to move to jobs in pharma, and many do; in a 2016 study in The BMJ, researchers examined the job histories of 55 FDA staff who had conducted drug reviews over a 9-year period in the hematologyoncology field. They found that 15 of the 26 employees who left the agency later worked or consulted for the biopharmaceutical industry.

FDA's safeguards are supposed to keep the prospect of industry employment from affecting employees' decisions while at the agency, and to discourage them from exploiting relationships with former colleagues after they depart. For example, former high-level employees can't appear before the agency on the precise issues they regulated—sometimes permanently, in other cases for a year or two.

Through web searches and online services such as LinkedIn, however, Science has discovered that 11 of 16 FDA medical examiners who worked on 28 drug approvals and then left the agency for new jobs are now employed by or consult for the companies they recently regulated. This can create at least the appearance of conflicts of interest.
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Kim Jong-Un bragged that he taste-tested North Korea's baby formula and ordered improvements, a likely jab at the US shortage
This big baby consumed half the world's supply in a single tasting. Just look at him!

You are, in fact, correct.

Yesterday was the first time I could not find a good formula to buy when I went to the store. I really freaked out. Thankfully, the 2nd store I tried had just a little bit left. I was glad to see the news that some foreign imports of formula will be allowed now; hopefully that will help.

Why weren't they allowed before?
European baby formula are okay, we have high safety requirements. But shipment would take time.

Some of the why is given in the first article I referenced on the 16th,
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... ll/629828/
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Finally, the third factor: America’s regulatory and trade policy. And while that might not sound as interesting to most people as bacteria and viruses, it might be the most important part of the story.

FDA regulation of formula is so stringent that most of the stuff that comes out of Europe is illegal to buy here due to technicalities like labeling requirements. Nevertheless, one study found that many European formulas meet the FDA nutritional guidelines—and, in some ways, might even be better than American formula, because the European Union bans certain sugars, such as corn syrup, and requires formulas to have a higher share of lactose.

Some parents who don’t care about the FDA’s imprimatur try to circumvent regulations by ordering formula from Europe through third-party vendors. But U.S. customs agents have been known to seize shipments at the border.

U.S. policy also restricts the importation of formula that does meet FDA requirements. At high volumes, the tax on formula imports can exceed 17 percent. And under President Donald Trump, the U.S. entered into a new North American trade agreement that actively discourages formula imports from our largest trading partner, Canada.
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More on Canada, https://www.freightwaves.com/news/prote ... alysts-say
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Canadian dairy products have mostly been kept out of the U.S. market for decades because the U.S. considers them subsidized. The Canadian dairy sector operates under a supply management system that limits production, sets prices and restricts imports.
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That's clear guarding of a monopoly.
And monopolies always have this problem: any disruption is likely to become a disaster.
That's one of reasons why market economy was invented

Yep.

I find this bit from the Freightwaves article most interesting,


What? Like the US doesn't?
https://www.wispolitics.com/2022/wiscon ... tatus-quo/
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We almost had a more farmer-friendly dairy policy in the 2014 Farm Bill, but it was taken out in the eleventh hour due to powerful lobbying forces at play. The outcome is that we have spent around $1.2 billion more on government-funded dairy subsidy programs than what would have happened had we adopted growth management in 2014.
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And in a bit of irony,
https://www.wpr.org/coming-together-dai ... ilk-supply
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But with milk prices in their third year below profitable levels at the time, Klinkner decided to attend an event held by the Wisconsin Farmers Union that featured Canadian dairy farmers talking about their national system.

"The room was just packed with a lot of anxious minds, really curious about what was going on," Klinkner said of the 2018 event. "I remember myself and many of them walking out of there just being awestruck at all the things we thought the Canadian milk quota system was and it wasn't, and learning what it actually was."

It’s what inspired Klinkner to dive into the work of imagining what an American system for managing milk supply could look like and how farmers could work together to help dairy operations of all sizes be successful.
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And then there's that bit,


What? Like the US doesn't?
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/0 ... uch-519775
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The federal government has tried various programs over the years in an effort to address the glut of milk in the U.S., with mixed success.

The current main vehicle to aid dairy farmers has been the Department of Agriculture’s Margin Protection Program, which acts as a kind of insurance to help farmers stay afloat, especially small farms. They pay into the program and receive payouts if their costs of operating rise too high compared to the prices at which they’re able to sell milk.
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