(Published as a Letter to the Editor in the Morning Call on 04/28/04)
April 24, 2004 - Yesterday it was announced that the
Pennsylvania
Milk Marketing Board has authorized a 58 cents per gallon increase. A
gallon of milk in the state will average around $3.50 a gallon,
approximately twice the cost of a gallon of gas. Maybe we ought to
protest and look for ways to cut our dependency on state milk.
The first milk control laws in Pennsylvania were passed in 1934 and the Pennsylvania Milk Control Commission was actualized as a permanent part of the state government in 1937. This board serves several purposes, one of which is to ensure a minimum price paid to the state's milk farmers. Hence, this increase will raise our prices and protect the farmer. If this were a private entity as opposed to one that is managed by the state, I wonder if there would be any protests. When the state controls something, the consumer seems to get the short end of the stick. The First Amendment says we have a right to "...petition the government for a redress of grievances" yet it seems like we don't. We seem more inclined to exercise our First Amendment rights against a private entity (sometimes foreign managed like OPEC) instead of our own, which is the intent of the Bill of Rights.
Both milk and oil are commodities that can be produced privately. Maybe if milk were privatized (or, more accurately, less subsidized) someday the price of a gallon of milk will be that of a gallon of gasoline.