This also explains why so many outrageous violations by these factory farms goes unpunished; they have so much clout, that they control the system, not the Government. There are many consequences to the economy, health, the environment, treatment of animals, when the entire world of family farming--and the rural life itself--is taken away, and given to a few small group of corporations, leaving the rest of the population shut out of the only life it once knew; and all of the consequences are bad. Recent studies, by the Pew Charitable Trust and others, show that huge factory farms/agribusiness, are bad for many reasons, including that they produce some 20% of all greenhouse gases, higher than the amount produced by all driven vehicles, yet factory farms receive no attention for this problem. The cramped and cruel living conditions for the animals (besides being an outrage and a sin itself) causes constant spread of disease, and the general unhealthiness of so many animals makes them unable to fight off disease, so antibiotics are overused, constantly. The health of neighbors of these operations also suffers. Why then, is nothing ever done? A House committee even recently undercut EPA efforts to make factory farms report and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions--why? Undercover investigations by the Humane Society and others, as to the very cruel treatment of cows and other animals, and the illegal use of diseased cows for food, has also produced no higher level of criminal charges, shut down operations, improved conditions--why? They don't ban the use of antibiotics and other drugs, even after it is shown to have a detrimental effect on people who consume it--why? A quote from the Washington Post article tells it:
"At the end of his second term, President Dwight Eisenhower warned the nation about the dangers of the military-industrial complex -- an unhealthy alliance between the defense industry, the Pentagon, and their friends on Capitol Hill," wrote Robert P. Martin, executive director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which wrote the report. "Now the agro-industrial complex -- an alliance of agricultural commodity groups, scientists at academic institutions who are paid by the industry, and their friends on Capitol Hill -- is a concern in animal food production in the 21st century."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042902602_pf.htmlThe close connections between the Federal Government and its subsidies, and the agribusness industry--including other huge corporations such as Tyson, etc., another firm that always escapes consequences for its cruel treatment of animals, its union-busting, its price-fixing with others, etc.--show why this type of situation, of type and extent of contacts, between a reduced total number of corporations, and the U.S. Government, as a small, closed group, is so threatening. They do not even have to pay any attention to ordinary law and reporting--and they don't.