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Mr. President,
I have never hidden the fact that I have usually felt closer to Republicans than Democrats.
I do not really know why. Maybe I have always felt that Republicans are a little easier to rely on: less beautiful rhetoric, more calculation, business sense and common sense. Maybe that is simply my personal bias.
So when you were elected President again, I was genuinely glad.
Almost everyone around me, for some reason, seems to be against you. Sometimes I even find myself defending you in conversations. I usually say: wait, let the man work. Let us see the result.
And I still want to trust you.
But yesterday I came across a report about your plan to sharply increase imports of cheaper beef in order to reduce prices for American consumers.
My first thought was: good. If meat gets cheaper, ordinary families benefit.
Then came the second thought.
What happens to American ranchers?
If American producers are already facing high costs, shrinking cattle herds and other pressures, and the government responds by opening the market to a much larger volume of cheaper imported beef, could that not put even more pressure on domestic producers?
And then the situation becomes strange.
Today, beef gets a little cheaper.
Tomorrow, there may be fewer American producers.
And what happens to prices then?
Mr. President, you are a businessman. That is exactly why I especially want to understand your logic.
Surely you are not looking only at the price of beef a few months from now.
What does your plan look like five years from now?
How many American ranchers will still be able to make a decent living?
Will the domestic cattle herd grow?
Will America become more dependent on imports?
And most importantly: how much can these additional imports realistically lower prices for ordinary consumers?
Because if the benefit to families is small, while the damage to American producers is significant, it will be hard to call that a good deal.
I still want to trust you, Mr. President.
That is exactly why I am asking:
Are you really sure that cheaper beef today will not cost America much more tomorrow?
Observer
I have never hidden the fact that I have usually felt closer to Republicans than Democrats.
I do not really know why. Maybe I have always felt that Republicans are a little easier to rely on: less beautiful rhetoric, more calculation, business sense and common sense. Maybe that is simply my personal bias.
So when you were elected President again, I was genuinely glad.
Almost everyone around me, for some reason, seems to be against you. Sometimes I even find myself defending you in conversations. I usually say: wait, let the man work. Let us see the result.
And I still want to trust you.
But yesterday I came across a report about your plan to sharply increase imports of cheaper beef in order to reduce prices for American consumers.
My first thought was: good. If meat gets cheaper, ordinary families benefit.
Then came the second thought.
What happens to American ranchers?
If American producers are already facing high costs, shrinking cattle herds and other pressures, and the government responds by opening the market to a much larger volume of cheaper imported beef, could that not put even more pressure on domestic producers?
And then the situation becomes strange.
Today, beef gets a little cheaper.
Tomorrow, there may be fewer American producers.
And what happens to prices then?
Mr. President, you are a businessman. That is exactly why I especially want to understand your logic.
Surely you are not looking only at the price of beef a few months from now.
What does your plan look like five years from now?
How many American ranchers will still be able to make a decent living?
Will the domestic cattle herd grow?
Will America become more dependent on imports?
And most importantly: how much can these additional imports realistically lower prices for ordinary consumers?
Because if the benefit to families is small, while the damage to American producers is significant, it will be hard to call that a good deal.
I still want to trust you, Mr. President.
That is exactly why I am asking:
Are you really sure that cheaper beef today will not cost America much more tomorrow?
Observer
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