The Price of Eggs: The Price of Trump's Lies

"If people say that here and there someone has been taken away and maltreated, I can only reply: you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs." – Herman Göring

"Shut up about egg prices." – Donald Trump

The price of eggs was Joe Biden's fault — at least, that's what Donald Trump and his right-wing media machine have claimed. According to them, “Inflationary Joe” was out of touch with the needs of ordinary Americans.

Leave it to a billionaire to promise you a better price for a dozen eggs. The fact that this billionaire was also a convicted felon should have raised some alarm bells.

Last August, Trump vowed to bring down prices on day one of his administration. When day one arrived, he revised the promise - Americans would see the price drop within 100 days.

But that hasn't happened.

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Scrambling the Economy

The economy is tanking. Inflation is spiking. Not because of Joe Biden and the Democrats but because of Donald Trump's scorched earth tariff war on Canada, China, and Europe.

And then there's the damned price of eggs. American prices jumped 15.2% in January and another 10.4% in February.

Things have gotten so bad that Donald Trump has taken to begging for eggs.

First, he hit up Denmark (yup, the same country he threatened to invade). Then he turned to Finland and Lithuania – countries he has abandoned while kissing up to Putin. They have turned him down, and the media are calling it a pathetic case of "door-to-door begging."

No wonder Donald is telling people to shut up about the price of eggs.

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Canadians are scratching their heads about the furor over eggs.

While prices have hit $10 US per dozen in some states, prices in Canada sit around $3.75 US. Prices have even dropped slightly.

So, what’s causing this huge discrepancy?

The first and obvious issue is the worrisome rise in avian bird flu.

The pandemic is causing havoc with chicken operations across the United States. But much less so in Canada. Why? Because Canada and the US have fundamentally different approaches to agriculture.

In the United States, egg production is controlled by five massive corporations. In this corporate business model, egg farms are considered “profitable” when they have over a million birds. But with the rise of avian flu, these massive operations are dangerously susceptible. A single outbreak at a giant agri-farm could result in the culling of the entire flock or a complete shutting down of the operation.

Canada’s egg industry is spread out over 1,000 family farms, with the average flock size at around 23,000. If one farm gets hit with avian flu, the load can be picked up by other operations, ensuring stability.

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Supply management has kept the family farm alive in Canada, and young farmers are investing in new operations.

The Power of Supply Management

So, how do you explain the difference?

Unlike the US, Canada regulates eggs, chicken, turkey, and dairy through a system known as "supply management." It is a system run by the farmers to ensure adequate production with stable prices. Producers buy "quotas," which allow them to supply the market. The quota guarantees a stable market and allows for long-term planning for family farms.

In this system, there’s no dumping from mercenary corporate attempts to control the market and drive down prices. Consumers barely notice because they are guaranteed stable prices and good supply.

Supply management has kept the family farm at the centre of Canadian ag policy and has resisted predation by corporate giants.

Needless to say, supply management isn't very popular with the right-wing ideologues.

No doubt you've been fed a steady diet on how the "free market" will give you better choice. Or that increasing market size will find efficiencies that will be passed on to the consumer.

We hear this bullshit all the time in Canada from the likes of the National Post and right-wing pundits who believe that Canada's agricultural system is somehow dangerously socialistic.

They would prefer to turn our market over to the freedom-loving egg oligarchs who, by the way, are under investigation by the Department of Justice over price gouging—nothing like a stressed consumer to be shaken down by a market controlled by giant corporate interests.

In the age of avian flu, the wisdom of farmer control of an internal market makes sense. Canadian consumers are protected, prices are stable, and farmers produce a safe and healthy product while making money.

No wonder Donald Trump is pissed.

As are the Canadian neo-cons who have been beating the drum relentlessly to put Canadian consumers under the thumb of a few corporate agri-giants.

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The Bigger Threat

There is nothing like a new bird flu strain to give virologists sleepless nights. The notorious Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-21 - which killed upwards of 100 million people - was caused by H1N1 avian flu strain that jumped to humans.

Scientists are closely watching the spread of this strain and have seen some worrisome signs of species jumping. So far, 48 mammal species have been impacted, from bears to dairy cows. There have been mass die-offs in sea lions and elephant seal pups.

So far, there have been no cases of human-to-human transmission. And touch wood, there won’t be.

But if there is a serious jump, it could prove catastrophic.

The threat is coming as Trump turns national health policy over to the anti-vaxx crank Robert Kennedy Jr. Meanwhile, MAGA loyalists are targeting health researchers and vaccine studies.

The timing couldn't be more disastrous.

We might be able to control the price of eggs, but we’d have a helluva time controlling another pandemic.

Trump's ideology - breaking eggs to fuel his reactionary revolution - may have consequences far worse than inflation.

Canada must be ready.

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