I drink your milkshake! a metaphor for capitalism
- Thread starter rickyb
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CAPS***
http://www.vulture.com/2017/09/super-size-me-2-you-may-never-be-able-to-eat-chicken-again.html
But things get really dark when Spurlock starts delving into the workings of what he calls “Big Chicken,” the mafia-like collusion of five mega-corporations (Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, Sanderson Farms, Perdue, and Koch Foods) that provide 99.9 percent of the chickens eaten in the U.S. Farmers sign contracts with them, pay on their own dime to buy land and build chicken houses, and then are subjected to a “tournament” system that arbitrarily ranks them against their neighbors to see who can grow the fattest chickens for the least amount of money — even in cases when the companies have given them sick hatchlings, females (who don’t get as big as males), or stale feed. Farmers who want to give their chickens better living conditions, such as sunlight and fresh air, are forbidden, because happier birds don’t get fat enough. To be at the bottom of the list means getting docked in pay to the tune of $5,000 a flock, which usually results in falling into debt, which gets even worse when the companies force unnecessary upgrades on the chicken houses. It’s hard to stay objective as Spurlock interviews these salt-of-the-earth men as they weep and talk about being indentured servants millions of dollars in debt, with no way out but to keep producing chickens in hopes of climbing back up the ranks. One farmer said he hadn’t had a day off in ten years, and had to go back to placing chickens two days after his son died. Another spoke of his son not being able to join the family business as a fourth-generation farmer because the lifestyle is too depressing.
There’s an ongoing and growing lawsuit that chicken farmers in Kentucky have filed against Tyson for the tournament system (John Oliver did a great summary, above), but speaking out is often accompanied by blackballing within the industry. Buttram (Spurlock’s chicken farmer) was at the Toronto screening, and told me he hasn’t received a flock of chickens from Koch Foods since the company found out he was participating in Super Size Me 2. “They suspended chickens in October, so we don’t have any income since October,” says Buttram. He has 14 chicken houses he’s paid for that are sitting empty, plus two in his wife Connie’s name. They’ve gotten no official word that they’ve been eliminated; they’re just not getting chickens — and have gone from being in debt to being really in debt.
And because the Big Chicken companies are so powerful and have such a monopoly over the business, Buttram can’t get hatchlings from anyone else. “No other company will touch me because I’m blackballed,” he says. “Koch Farms will call Pilgrim’s or they’ll call Tyson and they’ll say, ‘Hey, we don’t want this grower to have any more chickens.’” Buttram’s Plan B, given the retaliation he’d expected from participating in the documentary, was to go around to his neighbors’ farms cleaning out their chicken houses for free and then selling that chicken litter as cow feed for money, or using it to feed his own cows. Now, he claims, he can’t get onto those farms anymore because his neighbors fear they’ll be blackballed, too. “That killed me,” he says. “I didn’t think they’d come after me in that way, but they did. So, basically, we’ve been having to liquidate our cow herd. I had a plan B, but they got that, too.”
But things get really dark when Spurlock starts delving into the workings of what he calls “Big Chicken,” the mafia-like collusion of five mega-corporations (Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, Sanderson Farms, Perdue, and Koch Foods) that provide 99.9 percent of the chickens eaten in the U.S. Farmers sign contracts with them, pay on their own dime to buy land and build chicken houses, and then are subjected to a “tournament” system that arbitrarily ranks them against their neighbors to see who can grow the fattest chickens for the least amount of money — even in cases when the companies have given them sick hatchlings, females (who don’t get as big as males), or stale feed. Farmers who want to give their chickens better living conditions, such as sunlight and fresh air, are forbidden, because happier birds don’t get fat enough. To be at the bottom of the list means getting docked in pay to the tune of $5,000 a flock, which usually results in falling into debt, which gets even worse when the companies force unnecessary upgrades on the chicken houses. It’s hard to stay objective as Spurlock interviews these salt-of-the-earth men as they weep and talk about being indentured servants millions of dollars in debt, with no way out but to keep producing chickens in hopes of climbing back up the ranks. One farmer said he hadn’t had a day off in ten years, and had to go back to placing chickens two days after his son died. Another spoke of his son not being able to join the family business as a fourth-generation farmer because the lifestyle is too depressing.
There’s an ongoing and growing lawsuit that chicken farmers in Kentucky have filed against Tyson for the tournament system (John Oliver did a great summary, above), but speaking out is often accompanied by blackballing within the industry. Buttram (Spurlock’s chicken farmer) was at the Toronto screening, and told me he hasn’t received a flock of chickens from Koch Foods since the company found out he was participating in Super Size Me 2. “They suspended chickens in October, so we don’t have any income since October,” says Buttram. He has 14 chicken houses he’s paid for that are sitting empty, plus two in his wife Connie’s name. They’ve gotten no official word that they’ve been eliminated; they’re just not getting chickens — and have gone from being in debt to being really in debt.
And because the Big Chicken companies are so powerful and have such a monopoly over the business, Buttram can’t get hatchlings from anyone else. “No other company will touch me because I’m blackballed,” he says. “Koch Farms will call Pilgrim’s or they’ll call Tyson and they’ll say, ‘Hey, we don’t want this grower to have any more chickens.’” Buttram’s Plan B, given the retaliation he’d expected from participating in the documentary, was to go around to his neighbors’ farms cleaning out their chicken houses for free and then selling that chicken litter as cow feed for money, or using it to feed his own cows. Now, he claims, he can’t get onto those farms anymore because his neighbors fear they’ll be blackballed, too. “That killed me,” he says. “I didn’t think they’d come after me in that way, but they did. So, basically, we’ve been having to liquidate our cow herd. I had a plan B, but they got that, too.”
When you hear that eight of the richest men in the world have as much wealth between them as the poorest half of the world’s population, you think either the statisticians got their math wrong, or we’re at levels of inequality never before witnessed in history. Sadly, the statisticians are correct. On this show, we ask if it’s time for a truly democratic re-write of the rules? What’s standing in the way, and how do we re-think the constraints of an outdated economic order that has caused so much suffering? Ross Ashcroft is joined by Jason Hickel, anthropologist and author of The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions.
The divide
The divide
im 10 years a slave
1989
Well-Known Member
With nothing to show for it. While much of the middle class have built their wealth 5 fold.
i got money saved, but the capitalist took most of the money for himself and paid me very little.
this is the problem with capitalism.
DriveInDriveOut
Inordinately Right
What economic system do you propose take it's place?
1989
Well-Known Member
your poor decisions is not because of capitalism. Take responsibility dude.
see this thread
our decisions are based on the information we have and opportunity that presents itself.
so we are all guilty for our predicaments because basically we didnt rise up to fix it.
but its likely that im doing my part these days.
1989
Well-Known Member
The work 30 hours a week. Make 100k a year system.
DriveInDriveOut
Inordinately Right
You can't answer the question.
BrownArmy
Well-Known Member
Or, the situation is what it is, and you're guilty for not taking care of yourself.
If you wait for utopia to better your circumstances, you'll die in the gutter.
actually i could easily see UPS workers voting for a system like that and making that kind of money, especially when you consider the gap between productivity and wages
oh im not waiting.
1989
Well-Known Member
Since many businesses don't have those kind of margins. 30% unemployment could easily be obtainable.
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