[quacked]

A close relation of mine worked in a very, very high-up position in the Department of Agriculture. He has been farming-adjacent for his entire career, and years before he joined DoA he explained to me how meatpacking and butchery has slowly been taken over by a central set of massive corporate conglomerates who destroyed competition in the beef industry by pricing then out.

All of these major central corporations are completely dependent on illegal labor, and if they hadn't been able to pay lower wages, their takeovers couldn't have occurred at the speed or scale they did. My relation talked about this issue in the DoA and many senior officials pushed back and said that since addressing this issue of illegal labor in the beef industry would cause a rise in beef prices, threatening the availability of the migrant labor base is a no-go. (Biden admin, not that it matters--I'm sure the answer would have been the same under any admin through at least GWB).

That's where we are now, in US agriculture, residential construction, etc.. Prices must be kept low, and therefore the stream of low-skill desperate labor must not be turned off. Massive companies enjoy enduring near-monopolies because no one is willing to threaten the comfort of the American consumer.

[toomuchtodo]

All excellent points, a fair assessment of the situation. But, I would also say corporate profits of these firms rely on this low skill desperate labor that cannot organize and will not speak up (versus being shipped back to whatever terrible place they fled from). ADM, Bunge, Tyson, Koch Industries, etc are what come to mind in the ag sector, but is certainly not all inclusive.

I don't have a solution, but I hope smarter people than me with leverage figure it out, because it isn't sustainable.

[bluefirebrand]

The problem is the people running the show don't care if it's sustainable. They just want to get theirs and get out. Earn enough money and you can insulate yourself from consequences

There's far too much of this happening across all sectors, including government