Gas prices have been going down, nearly 24 cents since this time last year and 29 cents since last month. So NBC had to find another liquid to condemn. Meredith Vieira said on the August 14 “Today” show that “your wallet is getting sucked dry” by milk prices.
She lamented that “The average price for a gallon of milk is at its highest nationwide average ever, it will set you back $3.80.”
Reporter Lee Cowan explained that dairy cows are getting squeezed: “Dairy cows these days are being pushed to the limit, demand for their milk has never been higher, and neither has its price.”
So why’s the price so high? Two words: demand and subsidies. NBC covered one but not the other.
Cowan explained that demand for milk is increasing and dairy cows can’t keep up. The rise in demand comes from China and India’s new dairy obsession.
China and India like gasoline, too, and energy demand is also affecting milk prices – because of the rise in corn-based ethanol.
“Alternative fuels like ethanol have made corn a more pricey commodity, and corn is a cow favorite,” Cowan said.
Of course, the huge new demand for corn didn’t just happen. Corn has been getting billions of dollars in subsidies from the U.S. government that have driven demand up.
The MSM always finds a way to accuse oil companies of “sucking our wallets dry,” but with gas prices down, they are attacking ethanol – an energy source they originally praised.















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Comments Policy
Can't add more cows, either
August 14, 2007 - 16:22 ET by ThisnThatAnd the worst part? Environmentalists will protest adding more cows to produce more milk to drive prices down. Reason? Flatulance. Contributes to GW, you know.
The only solution I know of is to eliminate all environmentalists, thereby reducing world-wide demand for milk, corn, energy, etc.
Funny thing, TnT
August 14, 2007 - 16:32 ET by RJHere's another quandry the enviros put themselves in: I've read that the volume of "organic milk" per cow is lower than ordinary milk.
That means those cows eat more and flatulate more per gallon of milk than the rest of the cows..... ;^>
You've done it now, RJ
August 14, 2007 - 16:44 ET by ThisnThatYou've just gone and introduced another measure that's just going to add to our overburdened bureaucracy -- FPG. There go our taxes.
I gotta tell ya...
August 14, 2007 - 17:06 ET by AtillaKahunaAnd people look at me funny when I tell them that I haven't bought a gallon of milk in nearly four months.
"How's that?" they inevitably ask...
"That's why I have a dairy goat at home. She gives us between three and six quarts of farm-fresh milk every day. Just like clockwork!"
"GOAT MILK!?!?!?! EEEEEWWWWW!!!!!" (Yep. Just like a bunch of girls.)
"Tastes better than raw cows milk" I say. Sweeter, and absolutely no antibiotics, BGH, preservatives or ANYTHING she doesn't graze on in the pasture or get in her feed.
Kahuna
There are persons...who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy...will be merciful.
That's why I have a dairy goat at home
August 14, 2007 - 17:11 ET by MightyMouthYep,
The only thing better is Alpaca milk!
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
How about a Water Buffalo's
August 14, 2007 - 22:18 ET by Senior ChiefHow about a Water Buffalo's milk. If you haven't tasted it, you haven't drunk "Real" milk...
Milking the cash cow.
August 14, 2007 - 18:14 ET by Crash"Your wallet is getting sucked dry." ?????
What's up with news readers these days. She should have said, "...milked dry." How about a little perspective here? Starbucks coffee is $53.00 a gallon and consumers have bean roasted ... cappuccino drinkers are steaming mad. So much so, they're foaming at the mouth!
My wallet is getting sucked dry? That's impossible I use credit cards (responsibly) for every purchase ... including Catcher in the Rye. But seriously, have you priced peasant food lately? I'll have to go on food stamps just to buy a hunk of Gouda to melt over my Prosciutto, basil sandwich. After all, nothing else works as well with my favorite Bourdeaux. If you ask me, these journalists are spoiled and their rancid stories are getting old.
Moooo
August 15, 2007 - 04:56 ET by rob6677That's what I call "milking it for all it's worth". Pun intended!
"Dear Libs: Please remember that conservatives have guns, they are watching you, and know how to aim. Sincerely - rob6677"
}}---> Thanks, rob
August 15, 2007 - 05:11 ET by Cool ArrowWere it not for your meticulous thread search, I would not have been alerted to the prose of CRASH.
I suspect the guy may even be Dennis Miller incognito.
Just a curd to me.
No whey.
~LYDSEXICS UNTIE!~
"Just a curd to
August 15, 2007 - 05:11 ET by rob6677"Just a curd to me."
LMAO
CA, If it were not for humor like that, I would be crying over the spilled milk the media keeps putting out to pasture.
"Dear Libs: Please remember that conservatives have guns, they are watching you, and know how to aim. Sincerely - rob6677"
}}---> No, just pasture hips
August 15, 2007 - 05:18 ET by Cool Arrowpasteurize requires too much milk
~LYDSEXICS UNTIE!~
I think you guys have had
August 15, 2007 - 07:41 ET by USA4freedomI think you guys have had too much coffee with your milk this morning..I can hardly function.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.
Ronald Reagan- 40th Anniversary of D-Day
Got Money Worries? If Not, NBC Can Help
August 14, 2007 - 18:31 ET by Edward LunnyNot surprisingly, unmentioned are those states where the state government controls and sets the price of milk. That the government controls the retail price of a commodity couldn't possibly have any effect on the upward pressures of said prices could it ? And, upward only ,because, at least in my home state, they have never gone down. At least with your cup of coffee or container of your chosen beverage, less milk of course, the market sets the price, and, you can shop for other options.
Meredith ...
August 14, 2007 - 19:05 ET by drillanwrI don't buy 10 or 20 gallons of milk a week, hun ... I'll survive.
This is what happens when
August 14, 2007 - 20:00 ET by jcrapes4This is what happens when environmental wackos make policy decisions.
Meredith Vieira said on
August 14, 2007 - 22:19 ET by Dave RMeredith Vieira said on the August 14 “Today” show that “your wallet is getting sucked dry” by milk prices.
No, Merideth the Mindless, the federal government is what is sucking my wallet dry.
Ditz.
The 1 billion South &
August 14, 2007 - 22:31 ET by Senior ChiefThe 1 billion South & Central Americans were not included in the equation of why cow's milk price going up. Wait till they start demonstrating against price gauging to their tortillas...When corn price goes up, milk prices goes up, cow's meat goes up, gasoline price goes up, number of illegals in US goes up, crime goes up...
Just because of tortillas demand!
Meredith Viera either did
August 14, 2007 - 23:03 ET by MikeBMeredith Viera either did not take any micro-economics or she slept through class. Meredith, babe, pay attention: demand for a finite resource goes up. Class, what happens to the price of the resource? Anyone? Bueler? That's right: the price goes up. Now class how long does the price continue to rise? Anyone? Anyone? That's right: until a new equilibrium price is reached. Now that we've got the concepts of supply and demand and equilibrium price down, what happens if anyone in the supply chain raises prices beyond the equilibrium price? Meredith? Meredith? WAKE UP, Meredith! That's right, if prices rise beyond the equilibrium price less of the good or service is purchased. There will be a pop quiz on supply, demand, and equilibrium prices next Friday.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
Good one MikeB .. Now all
August 15, 2007 - 07:44 ET by USA4freedomGood one MikeB ..
Now all morning long I will be thinking of Buuueler..
they are truly clueless..
I think my lab pup has more IQ.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.
Ronald Reagan- 40th Anniversary of D-Day
Moo Moo I Love You
August 15, 2007 - 00:16 ET by Dr_LibertyI was happy this story appeared. Realizing the rising price of dairy and the falling price of petrol, I stopped filling my car with chocolate milk and now it seems to run better.
<insert witty signature here>
MILK CO CEOs Salaries, Tax on their profits, where's the outrage
August 15, 2007 - 07:55 ET by PawpawNWhere's the outrage! We need to check Milk, Coffee, Bottled Water, etc., CEOs salaries! We need to tax their profits more! Etc., etc., etc.!! Where's the outrage!!
I think the outrage is
August 15, 2007 - 08:02 ET by rob6677I think the outrage is focused here!
"I'm interested in the fact that the less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice." Clint Eastwood
...and then there's
August 15, 2007 - 11:07 ET by heldmyw...those of us on the chubby side who drink the Fat-Free variety.
At the last price hike I switched to powdered milk (being fat-free, with same protein and calcium after all). On cereal, in coffee, who cares? Tastes fine.
You get about 4 gallons for $4. Oh! And I know who made it, when, and with what ingredients!
Bonus!