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It's not that it won't correct, it's that the correction offers no guarantee of being humane. In the 20th century, the population of horses (in the US) started
by zubat 10y ago
It's not that it won't correct, it's that the correction offers no guarantee of being humane.
In the 20th century, the population of horses (in the US) started declining rapidly, from a high of over 20 million in 1920 to under 5 million in 1960. Industry decided the horse was unnecessary after thousands of years of history, thus they were slaughtered in short order.
The only difference between me and a horse from the market's view is that I do different jobs and consume human goods. To the extent that I am necessary it is because the market will need someone to move goods and services to, but left to its own devices it might well decide to sell weapons that I get killed with. Markets are honest, not smart.
- daniel_levine 10y agoCitation on horse slaughtering in the mid-1900s that probably was relatively unrelated to the Great Depressions? Legitimately interested.
- zubat 10y agoI don't have a detailed source on hand for the slaughtering operations specifically, but this is a good overview article of where the meat went: https://priceonomics.com/when-americans-ate-horse-meat/ https://priceonomics.com/when-americans-ate-horse-meat/
- daniel_levine 10y agoJust to be clear for everyone who doesn't click through. The car was one (and seemingly a very small one) amongst many reasons people ate horses, coupled with varying economic recessions, shortages of other meat, and changing consumer taste.
- maxerickson 10y agoYeah, over 40 years it would be easy to reduce the number of horses simply by attrition.