Note the final link is behind a paywall but if you have not visited National Review recently, you should be able to get a free look.
Bottom line, the baby formula shortage is a government failure, particularly a protectionist failure, but also a failure of over zealous regulators.
It is not a free market failure. There is no such thing as a free market failure. That term is simply Marxist diarrhea.
The United States Government has decreed what constitutes acceptable baby formula. The European Union has a different view, but over zealous regulation and protectionism prevent Americans from legally acquiring EU formula, though I am proud to see a healthy black market exists for it, signs that quite a few people are telling the government to â– â– â– â– off.
And despite the absolute histrionics you might hear from the domestic medical establishment and the government, you can make your own baby formula and do so safely.
Of course, I would be remiss to state that there are a lot of women who could and should be whipping out those puppies and feeding their kids. The laws have changed in favor of breastfeeding or breast pumping in public places and at work, and responsible mothers should take advantage of that. Baby formula should be, at best, a backup to breastfeeding, supplementary to breastfeeding or an emergency option, NOT the first choice.
The United States Government and the United States Government ALONE has created this crisis. It bears 100% of the responsibility.
They can fix it by dialing back both the regulatory zealousness and by relaxing protectionist measures, including by allowing EU baby formula to be freely sold in the United States alongside domestic brands.
When you advertise an open border in which the US taxpayer will provide free everything to all the world’s children well everyone who can will show up at the border. The Biden administration putting Americans last one child at a time!
Abbott has clearly taken a financial beating because of this, so they are not absolved. Human beings are fallible, include YOU and ME. Everybody has made a mistake and that includes in manufacturing.
The problem has been corrected and Abbott has paid a hefty price and will likely pay a fine, so nobody is being absolved of anything.
There is a difference between malicious misconduct by companies and accidental errors.
This is clearly the latter.
Malicious misconduct is rare and is almost always caught and punished.
I would compare this situation to that on the USS George Washington, which is so unlivable a bunch of sailors committed suicide. Clearly, lack of oversight and a toxic Navy (government) culture led to this situation. Government is just as good at killing people as any entity in the private sector.
But in this case, it is plain that government error created this shortage.
LET THE EU PRODUCTS IN. Rollback some of the non-sensical requirements that limit production.
If there is baby food that is qualified in Europe, then this administration needs to immediately cut through the red tape and make it available for importing. They could ask Trump about cutting through red tape to provide a vaccine, if they don’t know how to,respond in a crisis.
8 times since 2019 did the FDA issue warnings to Abbot due to unsanitary conditions and bacterial contaminations. This wasn’t a mistake, the was a company willfully ignoring the problem.
They spent their money on stock buybacks, instead of taking care of their plant. There was no mistake, they knew
