> The issue is that the regulations initially cut into the profits for meat packing companies. Then over time they serve as a barrier to entry, essentially crea

> The issue is that the regulations initially cut into the profits for meat packing companies. Then over time they serve as a barrier to entry, essentially creating artificial monopolies and anti-competitive market stagnation. I would say the issue is that antitrust officials stood idly by and allowed extreme market consolidation >For four decades, the U.S. government has watched idly as a handful of largely foreign-owned meat corporations grew horizontally by killing off or gobbling up their competitors and vertically by gobbling up their supply chains. Today four massive companies – JBS, Tyson Foods, National Beef, and Cargill – control over 80 percent of America’s beef. Three companies – JBS, Tyson, and Smithfield Foods – control 63 percent of America’s pork. Two of those – JBS and Tyson – also control 38 percent of poultry. https://lpeproject.org/blog/break-up-the-modern-meat-trust/ https://lpeproject.org/blog/break-up-the-modern-meat-trust/ Historically, we last saw this sort of cartel acting in the US 100 years ago leading to legislation that has slowly been whittled away until the problem has returned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packers_and_Stockyards_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packers_and_Stockyards_Act