The LA Times published an article called “The cost of steak” and the subtitle reads “Factory farms produce cheap meat, until you consider the rivers of sewage, the contaminants and the superbugs.”

The good news:

“[T]he current ‘factory farm’ method for mass-producing meat poses so many threats to public health — from contaminated water supplies to deadly epidemics of E. coli E. coli – that the whole system needs to go.” [...]

But not good enough. They don’t mean the whole system, they mean the worst part of the system:

“[W]e won’t be able to produce nearly as much meat as we used to, and a smaller meat supply means higher prices.”

The more meat costs, the fewer people will buy it. More people will be de facto vegans. They might not believe animals deserve rights but they’ll consume fewer animal products. And once people start acting like vegans, it’s a lot easier to convince them that veganism isn’t so hard.

However, if their consumption of animal products is reduced primarily because of the high cost, they’ll likely increase their consumption whenever prices drop. They might even be willing to forgo basic animal welfare in order to live like rich people and eat meat.

The story continues:

“[I]f taxpayers are willing to support small and medium producers with incentives such as accelerated tax depreciation and tax credits, the cost to consumers might be further reduced.”

Basically, we’re going to see measures to give tax breaks to animal agriculture in order to encourage them to start acting more responsibly. Doesn’t sound right, does it?

Sections: Vegan News
Topics: economy, meat, news, politics, tax, Vegan