The baby formula situation may be worth its own thread, but since this one doesn't seem to be going anywhere, I'll hijack this one.
The sheer incompetence of this government is nowhere on display more than on this issue. (That I'm the terrified father of a bottle-fed 6 week old with dwindling formula supplies in the pantry is beside the point.)
===The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also urging states to let WIC recipients use their benefits on more formula types and sizes and calling on the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on price gouging.===
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/05/12/biden-white-house-baby-formula-shortage/9746261002/
Pay attention! If there isn't any formula, making it WIC eligible and stopping price gouging doesn't do a damned thing.
Stop price gouging??? I'll pay 500% extra to keep my baby fed. Just give me what I need to keep my baby healthy. You want to stop price gouging, then ENSURE ADEQUATE SUPPLY and there will be no price gouging. Hello? Earth to federal government.
But okay, here's the thing that really gets my goat.
Similac is either the biggest or second biggest baby formula maker in the US. Who owns Similac? Abbott Labs.
What else does Abbott Labs make? Those home covid tests.
In case you didn't get the email, the government is now sending ANOTHER round of free covid tests. All you have to do is sign up for it online and Uncle Sam (through the USPS) sends you free home covid tests. The ones that are basically pointless and have not been shown to actually slow the spread of covid anyway. Mainly, the purpose of these tests is for covid+ blue checkmarks on Twitter to post time-lapse photos of their daily (or hourly in some cases) tests over 10 days to show how the positive line got progressively lighter and to make everyone else feel guilty for giving them covid.
Hey, Biden administration: Here's what you can do to actually help people: You militarize the Abbott factories if you have to (though you probably won't need to). You can stop manufacturing so many of those damned covid tests and manufacture more baby formula. Instead of sending everyone free covid tests, how about you make sure things that we actually do need are being manufactured?
@sh76 saidNothing like warm temperatures to get the blood boiling eh?
The baby formula situation may be worth its own thread, but since this one doesn't seem to be going anywhere, I'll hijack this one.
The sheer incompetence of this government is nowhere on display more than on this issue. (That I'm the terrified father of a bottle-fed 6 week old with dwindling formula supplies in the pantry is beside the point.)
===The U.S. Department of A ...[text shortened]... ne free covid tests, how about you make sure things that we actually do need are being manufactured?
I think you missed the "... more formula types and sizes... " part of the quote. Right now WIC benefits are limited to specific items, which encourages price gouging, and widening the options means that more types of formula can be sold to those consumers.
It sort of sounds like at the end of this post there you're advocating for a new form of government. The one where the government controls production. Is that what's going on here? We're saying Biden's incompetent because he's not behaving enough like a dictator.
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@jj-adams saidDo you actually believe,
While Americans can't find it.
Thanks, Biden.
that The President of
The UNITED STATES, has any responsibility, at all,
to do with ordering or delivering supplies?
.....I can hear it now, ''Mr President, we need one more guy to help us unload this ship. and we're 2 bags short of flour''
..............Why are you guys such non-thinking maroons?
..Why do y'all continually confuse idiotic, drivel with factual arguments?
@vivify- says
... the U.S. entered into a new North American trade agreement that actively discourages formula imports from our largest trading partner, Canada.
I don't get it, Viv. It clearly says @discourages imports, not disallows them. But you get extra credit for Blaming Trump!
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@earl-of-trumps saidWhat do you propose?
@vivify- says
... the U.S. entered into a new North American trade agreement that actively discourages formula imports from our largest trading partner, Canada.
I don't get it, Viv. It clearly says @discourages imports, not disallows them. But you get extra credit for Blaming Trump!
Let those babies DIE of malnutrition?
Oh, Libertarian.....''Every man (or woman) for themself.''
Let those poor devils, huddled on the border, seeking asylum, suffer and die.
Yeah, another import ban
instituted by, 'your boy,' TRUMP.
https://www.exportgenius.in/import-data/mexico/baby-formula.php
@earl-of-trumps saidhttps://reason.com/2022/05/09/americas-trade-and-regulatory-policies-have-contributed-to-the-baby-formula-shortage/
I don't get it, Viv. It clearly says @discourages imports, not disallows them. But you get extra credit for Blaming Trump!
the U.S. has recently adopted policies making it more difficult to import infant formula. the rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) championed by the Trump administration, set new limits on how much baby formula Canada could export
There's literally nothing Trump can do that you won't defend.
@wildgrass saidIf Truman can nationalize the steel mills to fight to Korean War, Biden can nationalize Abbott Labs to make baby formula.
Nothing like warm temperatures to get the blood boiling eh?
I think you missed the "... more formula types and sizes... " part of the quote. Right now WIC benefits are limited to specific items, which encourages price gouging, and widening the options means that more types of formula can be sold to those consumers.
It sort of sounds like at the end of this post there ...[text shortened]... 's going on here? We're saying Biden's incompetent because he's not behaving enough like a dictator.
Anyway, he wouldn't have to. They have just been asleep at the switch for months and the action now is mediocre stuff indeed.
FYI, from a trick I got forwarded on WhatsApp, I changed my home country settings on Amazon to Canada and suddenly I was able to order 2 tubs of Enfamil Gentlease. Paid an obscene amount for it, but I'm happy to do it.
How F-ed up is that? I can't buy formula at any price unless I change my country to Canada. I'm not blaming Biden for that detail, of course. But the whole administration has been fast asleep at the switch on this issue until about 10 minutes ago.
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@sh76 saidNot blaming BIDEN, huh?
FYI, from a trick I got forwarded on WhatsApp, I changed my home country settings on Amazon to Canada and suddenly I was able to order 2 tubs of Enfamil Gentlease. Paid an obscene amount for it, but I'm happy to do it.
How F-ed up is that? I can't buy formula at any price unless I change my country to Canada. I'm not blaming Biden for that detail, of course. But the whole administration has been fast asleep at the switch on this issue until about 10 minutes ago.
Nice of you, who initiated the policy?
@sh76 saidYou must be the most misinformed COVID denier on this board except for MB.
The baby formula situation may be worth its own thread, but since this one doesn't seem to be going anywhere, I'll hijack this one.
The sheer incompetence of this government is nowhere on display more than on this issue. (That I'm the terrified father of a bottle-fed 6 week old with dwindling formula supplies in the pantry is beside the point.)
===The U.S. Department of A ...[text shortened]... ne free covid tests, how about you make sure things that we actually do need are being manufactured?
Abbott didn't cut infant formula production because it was making COVID tests but:
" When Abbott Laboratories, one of the largest manufacturers of baby formula in the U.S., closed a facility in Michigan in February after the Food and Drug Administration announced it was investigating links between infants who contracted bacterial infections—which possibly led to two deaths—and formula produced at the plant, it sparked the major shortage that’s exacerbated by supply-chain delays and rising inflation."
"The FDA warned consumers in February not to use certain formulas produced in Abbott’s facility in Sturgis, Michigan, as it investigated reports that several children who contracted serious bacterial infections from Cronobacter sakazakii and Salmonella had links to the formula—and two of the infected children died, with cronobacter a possible contributor to the deaths, according to the FDA.
The same day, Abbott issued a voluntary recall for Similac, Alimentum and EleCare produced in the Michigan facility, and shut down the facility—which remains shuttered nearly three months later.
In March, the FDA released initial findings of its investigation, stemming from in-person inspections of the plant that started in late January, which included a history of contamination with the cronobacter bacteria—eight instances between fall 2019 and February 2022—and a failure to maintain clean surfaces used in handling and producing the formula."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan/2022/05/12/baby-formula-shortage-how-safety-concerns-at-an-abbott-facility-fueled-a-crisis/?sh=67710dd8bebf
Now don't you feel like a complete idiot or are you OK with feeding your kid formula from a plant shown to have had contaminated formula?
Before No1 jumps in with the inevitable correction, I'm being tongue-in-cheek about Truman and the steel mills. Truman's action was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
They wouldn't have to nationalize anything. If the Biden administration spent a fraction of the effort on monitoring this issue as they do flailing their arms on useless covid measures, this could and should have been nipped in the bud.
@no1marauder saidThat was one plant. Of course I know all about that. The government should have seen this shortage coming and acted months ago.
You must be the most misinformed COVID denier on this board except for MB.
Abbott didn't cut infant formula production because it was making COVID tests but:
" When Abbott Laboratories, one of the largest manufacturers of baby formula in the U.S., closed a facility in Michigan in February after the Food and Drug Administration announced it was investigating links be ...[text shortened]... iot or are you OK with feeding your kid formula from a plant shown to have had contaminated formula?
Edit: I've been researching and worrying about this real life (not keyboard warrior) problem for weeks; of course I knew about the plant problem. All the more reason the government should have seen the problem coming and done something about it.