patrick.net

This will be the 1st in my series of "FUCKED We Are," an ongoing expose on how the criminals in charge of the nation and world are parasitic suck, enrichening themselves by a magnitude of wealth most people can't comprehend, at the expense of everyday Americans to a degree where they have to choose between rent, food & meds.

1st Essay - Chickens just as well as Prisons (price of other commodities, 'traded" on CBOE - but really price- rigged by huge banking interest - such as aluminum & nickel, will be featured in future editions) -

Meet The "Gardening Blogger" Who May Have Overcharged Americans Billions For Supermarket Chicken

Meet Arty Schronce, a former "gardening blogger" for the Georgia Department of Agriculture, who suddenly found himself in charge of setting prices for billions of dollars worth of retail chicken sales despite no experience and his own admission that "his training was inadequate, inconsistent and sometimes in error."

NOV 24, 2016 5:05 PM

Billions of dollars worth of chicken are sold in the United States each year through various supermarket chains.  Given the shear volume of chicken sales, most Americans simply take for granted that the prices are set based a transparent, competitive marketplace of buyers and sellers.  Certainly, before now, not many would have guessed that their grocery bills for poultry were being determined by a single, self-described "gardening blogger" from the Georgia Department of Agriculture.  Unfortunately, it's looking increasingly like that is exactly what happened and it likely resulted in Americans being overcharged billions of dollars for chicken purchased in supermarkets.

When it comes to chicken pricing, there is very little infrastructure and processes in place to determine a truly "market price" for poultry.  Per the Washington Post, a significant portion of chicken sold to retailers is actually priced off an index maintained by the Georgia Department of Agriculture which is frequently referred to as the "Georgia Dock" price.  And while that may sound "official," we're now finding out that the Georgia Dock price has been unilaterally set by a single, untrained, "gardening blogger" based on a survey of just a couple local producers who refused to provide backup for their pricing.

While many chicken companies and retailers are secretive about how they set prices for buying and selling chicken, some very large players have acknowledged that the Georgia Dock is the basis of, or a factor in, the price they pay for chicken.
 
“Over time, most retail grocery customers and their suppliers have come to trust the Georgia Dock whole bird price quoted weekly by the Georgia Department of Agriculture as the most reliable reflection of the supply and demand dynamics of the fresh chicken market,” officials at Sanderson Farms, one of the nation’s largest chicken producers, wrote to the SEC earlier this year.
 
For all but one of Sanderson’s supermarket customers, the price is based on the Georgia Dock. Tyson Foods said a small portion of their supermarket contracts is “connected” to the Georgia Dock. A spokesman for Pilgrim’s Pride said that less than 5 percent of its sales are currently tied to the Georgia Dock, but company officials have repeatedly referred to the price index in calls with investors and analysts.
 
Among supermarkets, Walmart, Safeway and others confirmed using the Georgia Dock, as well as other factors, when negotiating chicken prices.
Arty Schronce, our gardening blogger and chicken price czar, was apparently the one to blow the whistle on his own pricing index after writing a memo to the Georgia Department of Ag saying that he had come to "question the validity of some of the information provided" by local producers.  The full private memo was obtained by the media and can be viewed here (it is also included at the end of this post).

The root of the trouble with the Georgia price estimate, as Schronce sees the matter, is that it is based on a price survey of eight anonymous chicken companies in the state, and he raised doubts whether those companies have been giving him accurate information. The chicken companies are not asked to show receipts or other documentation proving that their figures are accurate.
 
“I have come to question the validity of some of the information provided,” he wrote in September in preparation for a meeting at the Georgia Department of Agriculture. “I do not think I am getting actual weighted average prices from some companies.”
 
Schronce indicated in his memo that he had been contacted by an investigator from the antitrust division of the Florida attorney general. Moreover, in recent months, the USDA discontinued publishing the Georgia figure, citing its inability to verify the information.
Schronce apparently grew suspicious of his own pricing index after receiving questionable feedback on his pricing surveys like "just keep 'em the same."  Certainly, a quick comparison of the Georgia Dock price to the USDA composite seems to confirm Schronce's concerns.

READ MORE. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-24/meet-gardening-blogger-who-may-have-overcharged-americans-billions-supermarket-chick