There Ain’t No Liberals in Feed Stores

From Whiskey and Gunpower: fostering economic and independent thought - By Linda Brady Traynham - I spend a lot of time (and money) in feed stores and I guarantee that those who feed America on anything other than corporate level do not and never have wanted any part of what Obama is selling. Yup, we’re a mean-spirited, selfish lot totally without a shred of social conscience. We know precisely how narrow our margin for safety is and how many threats assail it. Meat prices in grocery stores have no reality in a rancher’s life except when he is buying meat for his own table. Daddy always said, “You can’t afford to run cattle unless you have a private income.” It wasn’t a joke; it was a simple statement of the uncertainties of weather, the economy, actions of the government, disease, sun spots, and other forces of nature. In a really good year we might make a miniscule profit; grocery store chains think they’re doing well when they maintain the classical four per cent. That’s not a “small” profit. That’s a good profit in the business world, after operating expenses and taxes. Too bad it doesn’t cover inflation. You go into a feed store (wonderful smells, fascinating merchandise, nice folks, and sticker shock wherever you look. Are you up to $2500 saddles? An average price, nothing special… how about fencing at five thousand a mile? And up. Mostly up!), and you can have a good, rousing, patriotic conversation on every aisle if you want to make an opening remark…the price of antibiotics (animals’ make ours look cheap), or the astounding increase in wire and T-post prices (non-precious metals) during the last year…or the probable effect on future feed costs from a crashing economy. More of Traynham's column

There Ain’t No Liberals in Feed Stores