Capitalist food production: The size and power of the U.S. food oligopoly

I have been reading a little more about the environment and capitalism these days. When I was very active in the Union movement in what amounted to being a permanent shop steward on the job for 25 years or so, I had numerous conflicts with some in the environmental movement.  It was not that I disagreed with them about their concerns, it was that their attitude to working  people seemed condescending and arrogant.  Working for a public water utility in California meant that the environment, especially water usage, was a hot topic. The utility's board was dominated by flunkies for the construction and land development industry but there was generally a liberal environmentalist type on there elected from more middle class liberal communities.

This representative generally presented themselves as the workers' friend, liberal Democrats who cared about the world.  They would often vote against measures that were anti-Union but that was it.  The vote covered their asses but as far as campaigning or using their position to help the Unions mobilize the power of their own members to improve our lot; this was out of the question.  I often found activists in this movement took workers' lack of concern for their environmental issues as not caring.  But I used to say at board meetings rather derisively that a working class person who is faced with making choices like whether they the pay rent or the energy utility bill is not going to have the issue of a declining population of toads in the Amazon foremost on their minds. When this whale, named Humphrey became stuck in San Francisco Bay and a local news celebrity the environmentalist on our board was out there for Humphrey but we couldn't get her on our picket lines during the strike. "Our wages, benefits and working conditions are an environmental issue too" I used to say.

I realize now that the reason for this attitude among many in the ranks of the environment movement was that they were from the middle class and fairly financially secure; it didn't mean they weren't dedicated or well intentioned. Then there was the attitude of the Union leadership of the construction trades who supported the contractors and developers as it meant jobs for their members and kept the dues money flowing that paid for their obscene salaries.

The situation has changed a lot since those pre-Chernobyl, BP oil spill and Fukushima disasters.  Capitalism has poisoned, polluted and ravaged the earth at an unprecedented rate.  Fortunately, the left and the environmentalist movements have also changed for the better with socialists paying more attention to environmental issues with the understanding that the ability of the planet to maintain life as we know it is limited and many environmentalists recognizing that the environment and human habitation cannot be separated from the way social production is organized.  Below are some facts our readers might find useful.

From

Climate and Capitalism

November 28, 2011
Four food giants had total sales of $240 billion in 2010, more than the GDPs of 148 countries

From Frugal Dad: Take a look at this infographic from the Frugal Dad team. I’ve said it a million times – you get what you pay for, and cheap food is no exception. The amount of consolidation in the industry is shocking, and it’s not getting better any time soon.

If you’ve been following the news, you know that Big Food successfully lobbied this week to have pizza sauce considered a vegetable under school lunch rules. The industry also managed to block most of the nutritional changes that to school lunches that doctors and dieticians had been recommending for years, virtually guaranteeing that America’s schools will continue to serve processed, unhealthy garbage to our children. If you didn’t know that Big Food wields disproportionate influence in America today, reading this infographic will be a great wakeup call.

Source: Frugal dad