LMD October 2020

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Riding Herd “The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.” – JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

October 15, 2020 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 62 • No. 8

Hot Meat

an entirely new pathogen, and the meat industry would have its very own Covid crises.

Globalism Is A Double Edged Sword

BY LEE PITTS

I

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

t’s the beef industry’s dirty little secret. In fact, I’d bet most of you don’t know anything about it. Did you know there are smugglers of illegal beef, or what is known in the illicit trade as “hot meat”, who are attempting to send illegal beef into countries around the world, including the United States? These smugglers are known as “feet” and they walk it across borders, hide it in shipments of consumer goods and sneak it in suitcases that sometime leak potentially deadly juices in airports thereby making it possible for all kinds of diseases to spread around the world within hours. After the year we’ve had you’d think we’d learn about the dangers of open borders, unlimited access to foreign visitors and of exporting our manufacturing capability to countries around the world. If you haven’t realized it by now, Covid 19 is just one more bad byproduct of globalization. Some day in future the “feet” from the same country that brought us the China Flu are going to introduce a disease into the American beef industry, either purposely or by accident, that will bring us to our knees. If you thought it was bad during the Mad Cow scare, you haven’t seen anything yet. Ranchers who have spent their lifetimes, and a good deal of their money, building up their herds with the best genetics in the world will have to stand back and see their animals euthanized and buried in mass graves. Cattle prices will topple when our foreign customers start refusing our beef because we have foot and mouth disease, or an as yet

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. unknown deadly pathogen. The American domestic beef market will become saturated when we have no where else to sell it.

Our Own Covid Crises Between April 6 and June 6 of this year, just 60 days, customs agents at our busiest western port, the LA/Long Beach Seaport, intercepted 19,555 pounds of prohibited pork, chicken, beef and duck products arriving from China. The meat had never been inspected, was not listed on any ship’s manifest and was smuggled here without any knowledge of the U.S. government. The meat was hidden amongst boxes of headphones, door locks, kitchenware, LCD tablets, trash bags, swim fins and cell phone covers. According to Jaime Ruiz of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, their agents seized 12 shipments containing a to-

tal of 834 cartons that lacked the required U.S.D.A. entry documentation. The Customs agency also said that in the first five months of fiscal year 2020, the interception of prohibited meats from China at the LA/ Long Beach Seaport had increased 70% compared with the same period the year prior. Last year U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted one large single shipment of illegal pork products from China, a country that is currently affected by African Swine Fever, Classical Swine Fever, Newcastle Disease, Foot and Mouth Disease, highly pathogenic Avian Influenza and Swine Vesicular Disease. And these are just the instances where the smugglers were caught. How much goes undetected is anybody’s guess. All it would take is one “bad” shipment laced with one of the aforementioned diseases, or

Remember life before Covid? Last January economists predicted a profitable year ahead for cattlemen. Then along came Covid 19 and fat cattle started backing up because packers had reduced their kill. Prices to the rancher fell 20-25% at the same time the boxed beef price doubled. It became obvious to even the most obtuse that the packer had unlimited power. They could name their price for the beef they sold to the retailer because of the beef shortage they created. Meanwhile economists and college professors were extolling the glory of globalism and the magnificence of exports. Randy Blach of Cattle Fax said,”In 1990, beef exports were a very small percentage of U.S. production, whereas today it’s 19 billion pounds or 18% of total meat exports. Last year’s beef imports were just under 9.25% of the U.S. beef supply.” Five to ten years ago exports and imports were about equal in value, causing some to suggest we’d be better off just to stop exporting and quit importing and sell only American made beef to the U.S. consumer. But in the age of globalism that proposal was as antiquated as cuff links and Sunday pot continued on page two

A Purple Mountain Travesty in Waves of TaxDodging ‘Conservation’ BY JOHN F. WASIK, REALCLEARINVESTIGATIONS

F

or ecologically minded landowners, land conservation easements have long been a win-win, allowing them to protect sensitive property from development and get a tax break. But in recent years many of them have also become abusive tax dodges, costing the U.S. Treasury billions of dollars. Here’s how they work: Speculators buy undeveloped land that qualifies for the program. They then inflate the valuation of the property and sell shares in it to investors lured by the promise of a big deduction after the land is donated for preservation. More than 30,000 Americans have invested in these limited partnerships, many of whom are unaware of the potential tax penalties. The total amount of deductions claimed by taxpayers using these vehicles over the years is believed to exceed $230 billion, according to documents from the Senate Finance Committee. That total is nearly the amount the federal government annually spends on the combined budgets of the Education, Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs departments. The owner of a small San Francisco-area

tech firm told RealClearInvestigations that he was sold $300,000 in easement interests in 2016 and 2017 by an investment adviser. He was “guaranteed” that for every dollar he invested, he would receive $4 in tax write-offs. At the time, though, he was unaware the IRS and U.S. Tax Court were challenging the deductions. After an audit by state and federal tax agents, he was fined $1.4 million in penalties and back taxes. “I’ve always been conservative about my taxes,” said the man, who insisted on anonymity. The syndicated easement interests “were an outright scam. Tax authorities audited every aspect of my life, which caused me a great deal of stress and many sleepless nights. I feel cheated.” The practice has triggered major enforcement actions by the IRS and other agencies. The IRS created a special task force late last year to crack down on the abuse, which is an extraordinary measure given its shrinking enforcement budget in recent years. Conservation easements are longstanding and popular tax incentives. Some 56 million acres are “protected” through easements, alcontinued on page four

by LEE PITTS

The Vegan Church

I

saw a classified ad in our local weekly newspaper inviting newcomers to a VIP potluck, VIP standing for Vegetarian Inclined People. At great personal sacrifice I attended in an undercover capacity. As a disguise I figured I could either go as an old hippie, or a millennial but since I really didn’t fit the millennial demographic, aging hippie it was. I used an old cap someone had given me as a gag gift eons ago that had a white ponytail sticking out the back. I wore a pair of beat up, old second-hand Birkenstocks I got at the Nifty Thrifty, crumpled cargo shorts exposing my white legs with varicose veins, and a faded Hawaiian shirt. Then I “inserted” myself into the combat zone wearing a wire. I was greeted warmly by all seven of the VIP’s and I think it was because I was the first “new blood” they’d seen in quite some time. We met in the basement of a church which was most appropriate. I’d always been taught there were three primary religions in the world, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, well, I think it’s safe to say we can add a fourth: Vegetarianism. Granted, the vegheads don’t sing hymns, pray, or even play bingo but from what I could tell they do believe a very hot Hell is reserved for anyone who eats meat. They believe when good Vegetarians die they go to the big Vegetarian restaurant in the sky and if they don’t backpedal and eat a Big Mac or a Whopper now and then, they could come back as an organic Brussel Sprout... if they’re lucky. The Vegetarians believe soy is the answer to all the world’s ills and that only through Vegetarianism will the human race become benign and lovely. They are ferocious in these beliefs and send out their missionaries hither and yon to convert everyone to their religion. They especially prey on teenage girls who seem to be especially vulnerable to their wily ways. I was seated at a table with three other VIP’s and began my investigation.

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