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Fri May 1, 2020, 10:00 PM

Under The Radar (3,378 posts)

In the early '80's the USDA bought excess dairy products....

...in the form of American cheese and made it available to the poor or basically anyone that stood in line for it. The cheese was then known as Government cheese, and it was good.
This program was an effort to prevent a collapse of prices and supported the dairy farmers. Nothing wasted, and it was a win-win for farmers and people in poverty. Not certain but I doubt that it caused much pain to the government either. The kicker, a Republican was President, a Ronald Reagan.
Why are we disposing of meat, eggs, milk and produce, especially with the demand for food banks at an all time high and with a shortage of food at the food banks? And then explain to me how it makes sense to pay the producers of the food to dispose of the food at the tune of $20 billion a year?
There are 30 million people unemployed and the McConnell Senate ain’t giving regular citizens another dime....please don’t feed me the “price support protection” BS line either.

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21 replies	Author	Time	Post
In the early '80's the USDA bought excess dairy products.... (Original post)	Under The Radar	May 2020	OP
If you give the peasants food	Chainfire	May 2020	#1
The program didn't limit the cheese to unemployed,	Under The Radar	May 2020	#2
Yes.	Newest Reality	May 2020	#3
Hoping that was sarcasm...	Under The Radar	May 2020	#6
Of course it was...	Newest Reality	May 2020	#8
There's nobody to process the meat.	Laelth	May 2020	#4
I remember the government cheese	captain queeg	May 2020	#5
It was also dehydrated and stored as powdered mlk.	Totally Tunsie	May 2020	#7
Government peanut butter was so freakin good.	NightWatcher	May 2020	#9
The government beer was just okay.	C Moon	May 2020	#12
Ahh the good old days	The Figment	May 2020	#10
Publix is buying milk and produce	tavernier	May 2020	#11
If they had Publix stores in my area,	murielm99	May 2020	#13
🌹🌹🌹 Roses to them.	Duppers	May 2020	#19
My Grandmother Founded A Community Center And I Help Out Handing Out Cheese And Butter	DanieRains	May 2020	#14
Somewhere along the way we lost our common sense	Under The Radar	May 2020	#16
Cheese, flour, butter, peanut butter and all very good quality	eleny	May 2020	#15
Read.	Igel	May 2020	#17
This was first done in the depression era, lasted well into the fifties	Thekaspervote	May 2020	#18
The government buying food for distribution to the poor (to maintain retail pricing)	Chainfire	May 2020	#20
I grew up on a dairy farm	Horse with no Name	May 2020	#21

Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Fri May 1, 2020, 10:06 PM

Chainfire (15,061 posts)

1. If you give the peasants food

they will never go back to work.

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Response to Chainfire (Reply #1)

Fri May 1, 2020, 10:11 PM

Under The Radar (3,378 posts)

2. The program didn't limit the cheese to unemployed,

...working people and college students like me was available to get it too. I Stood in line every Wednesday and got two large bars for me and my roommates. I haven’t been out of work a day in my life since I was 18.

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Response to Chainfire (Reply #1)

Fri May 1, 2020, 10:12 PM

Newest Reality (12,712 posts)

3. Yes.

The dignity of work is more important and minimum wage is so generous.

Free rides are for those entitled to them. I think it's in the Constitution

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Response to Newest Reality (Reply #3)

Fri May 1, 2020, 10:33 PM

Under The Radar (3,378 posts)

6. Hoping that was sarcasm...

...doesn’t take an engineer to find the mathematical equation to calculate how far below minimum wage is to poverty.
Hell just do the math on $15 an hour and see how well your family could eat.

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Response to Under The Radar (Reply #6)

Fri May 1, 2020, 10:44 PM

Newest Reality (12,712 posts)

8. Of course it was...

I guess that one needed:

I am mostly sarcastic these days, it seems. Homeless life and semi-starvation can do that at my age

And from what I have seen, a minimum wage of $20-per-hour would just get close to some financial security. I've seen the comparisons and adjusted versions.

Thanks.

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Fri May 1, 2020, 10:22 PM

Laelth (32,014 posts)

4. There's nobody to process the meat.

There’s nobody to receive and process the milk. The food processing industry has been hit hard by COVID-19. The government would probably love to give this stuff away, but there aren’t enough people to make that happen because of how many of them are sick already.

-Laelth

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Fri May 1, 2020, 10:27 PM

captain queeg (9,423 posts)

5. I remember the government cheese

I was in the meat industry then. There was over production of milk so a lot of farmers sold their milk cattle to the slaughterhouse, reducing their herds. I think the government encouraged that though I don’t remember the details. Most of the hamburger you eat comes from old dairy cows and even bulls.

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Fri May 1, 2020, 10:42 PM

Totally Tunsie (10,885 posts)

7. It was also dehydrated and stored as powdered mlk.

Here's an interesting article about gubmint cheese and powdered milk:

https://www.history.com/news/government-cheese-dairy-farmers-reagan

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Fri May 1, 2020, 10:48 PM

NightWatcher (39,343 posts)

9. Government peanut butter was so freakin good.

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Response to NightWatcher (Reply #9)

Sat May 2, 2020, 12:46 AM

C Moon (11,916 posts)

12. The government beer was just okay.

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Fri May 1, 2020, 11:17 PM

The Figment (493 posts)

10. Ahh the good old days

"Grilled Cheese,WTF Its Only A Buck"
Us Deadheads Remember "Reagan Wax" lol

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Fri May 1, 2020, 11:46 PM

tavernier (11,756 posts)

11. Publix is buying milk and produce

and giving it to food pantries.

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Response to tavernier (Reply #11)

Sat May 2, 2020, 12:49 AM

murielm99 (30,236 posts)

13. If they had Publix stores in my area,

I would be a lifetime customer. I would tell all my friends, too.

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Response to tavernier (Reply #11)

Sat May 2, 2020, 03:20 AM

Duppers (27,611 posts)

19. 🌹🌹🌹 Roses to them.

Excellent company! And it's EMPLOYEE OWNED!

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Sat May 2, 2020, 12:50 AM

DanieRains (4,619 posts)

14. My Grandmother Founded A Community Center And I Help Out Handing Out Cheese And Butter

Last edited Sat May 2, 2020, 03:00 AM - Edit history (1)

I think it was '84 or '85. Some of the butter was "old" but no one ever gave any of it back. Every Saturday we would hand it out.

Welcome to reality.

Reagan Cheese.

I got a brick every week.

The best thing was my grandmother knew I loved "fresh" milk, and bought a gallon every week of straight milk with cream on the top from her farmer friend, and put it in the fridge. We would make butter, real butter, and drink real milk. I know most have never tasted the (it can kill you because it isn't pasteurized) real milk. It's soooooo good.

Stay safe.

Reagan Cheese, probably the only good thing he did.

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Response to DanieRains (Reply #14)

Sat May 2, 2020, 01:20 AM

Under The Radar (3,378 posts)

16. Somewhere along the way we lost our common sense

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Sat May 2, 2020, 01:14 AM

eleny (46,156 posts)

15. Cheese, flour, butter, peanut butter and all very good quality

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Sat May 2, 2020, 01:46 AM

Igel (34,096 posts)

17. Read.

https://fee.org/articles/why-does-the-federal-government-have-14-billion-pounds-of-american-cheese-stockpiled/

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Sat May 2, 2020, 03:20 AM

Thekaspervote (30,725 posts)

18. This was first done in the depression era, lasted well into the fifties

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Sat May 2, 2020, 08:20 AM

Chainfire (15,061 posts)

20. The government buying food for distribution to the poor (to maintain retail pricing)

goes back far before R. Ray Gun. It began in the 1930s and continued under one form or another until 2014.

In the mid 1960s, I had an uncle who had ten children, he got enough of the free food to share with our family. Our family may have been eligible, but my father would not have been seen taking free food. The only food I remember was the cheese; it was really good!

The Republicans of today would rather see the food plowed under than to give it to the needy. Plowing it under still supports the prices of the commodities without having to give it away to people who can't or don't want to work.

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Response to Under The Radar (Original post)

Sat May 2, 2020, 08:32 AM

Horse with no Name (33,948 posts)

21. I grew up on a dairy farm

Reagan lowered the price of milk and raised the price of grain.
It was crushing to the family farms.
Reagan ratfucked the traditional family farms.

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