An Egg-isting Problem Frying on the DOJ Stove

For the last two years of the Biden-Harris regime, their DOJ, from Garland to Clark to whomever, was more concerned with getting Trump, than to get the criminals who watched, with no consumer protection, the price of eggs climb from under $2 per dozen to well over $5 per dozen. As of yesterday. I spent $29 for a five dozen count carton at Walmart.

 

Last month, I wrote a commentary called, Omletting You Down, Over Easy, where I tried to put a humorous spin on a serious situation. But it isn’t funny any more. Not when you have seen the prices up by 53% from January ‘24 to January ’25, and 139% since October ’23.

It all isn’t over the alleged bird-flu epidemic. Or else, it would be affecting pigeons, swallows, robins, ducks and all the rest. Not just chicken hens.

Now, the DOJ Anti-Trust Division under Attorney General Pam Bondi has begun to investigate whether there is price-gouging, caused by large producers having conspired to raise prices or hold back supply. This should have been done by Merrick Garland, but he was too busy chasing non-crimes.

Ahh, yes. And then, there is that Economics 101 again, rearing its ugly head. This time, practicing the cost of supply and demand. Keep the supply low, the demand high and watch prices rise. And make an extraordinary profit in the process.

Low supply of egg-laying hens and steady demand despite higher costs have stretched egg suppliers thin, leaving many grocers with empty shelves. Grocers believe egg shortages are among the leading drivers of food inflation over the past few months, hampering President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce overall inflation, which stood at 3.0% in January, according to the Consumer Price Index.

And if there is collusion by the large egg suppliers to use the avian flu as a reason to gouge consumers, hopefully, this will finally force the federal government to enact stiff fines and penalties, and add teeth to state laws. For all price gouging which hurts all of us.

Antitrust authorities often open investigations when soaring prices appear to stem from unusual disruptions to supply chains, Lisa Phelan, an antitrust partner at Morrison Foerster, told the Wall Street Journal and Newsmax.

"There can be anticompetitive efforts to deal with the crisis and that is not OK either," she said.

Let’s hope the prices begin to fall quickly now that the egg industry is being investigated for potentially illegal practices by a real Attorney General.