It’s a result of Jimmy Carter’s dairy subsidies. There was a Planet Money episode about it, and the origin of the phrase “government cheese”:
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/31/643486297/episode-862-big-government-cheese
Everyone makes fun of it, but that shit was sooooo damn good. My aunt and uncle got government cheese when I was really little, and I loved going over for visits and grilled cheese, lol.
Ok who’s been messing with their Skyrim console commands?
You should see South Dakota’s strategic cabbage chamber.
Removed by mod
I thought, “1.4 billion pounds of cheese can’t be a real number, right?” Turns out, it kinda is. 1.4 billion pounds (actually generally 1.45-1.5 billion) is the amount of cheese the USDA stores in cold storage warehouses across the US. And indeed, much of that seems to be in caves in Missouri. But any particular cave probably only stores a few million pounds, although getting specific numbers is rather difficult.
Okay, see, if this were most of what the government did; I’d happily pay taxes.
I’d pay extra and ask how I could help. I’d be painting american flags on shit, instead of saying ‘smash the state’.
That’s just my emergency stash. I try to keep at least two week’s worth of cheese there at any time.
Working on my night cheese
Good God
LemonOsito
Said the dragon of their hoard.
You’re welcome to have a ton or two. Tell 'em I sent ya
A moon-sized pizza to feed the Devourer of Worlds and save the Earth that way.
All they’re doing is making earth’s crust cheese stuffed.
Or it’s the government propping up Big Dairy
It would be all well and good to decry the government “propping up Big Dairy,” if any kind of real social safety nets existed in our stupid country. Ya know, to help the actual people who would be out on their asses, if any large industry really started struggling.
But we’re not gonna do that in the USA, now are we?
Subsidizing industries, bending rules, creating loopholes, zero-interest loans, etc…that’s the closest we can come to securing and protecting the welfare of any large group of working-class people. It shouldn’t be that way, but the political climate is only getting WORSE, in terms of us being entirely unable to enact better solutions.
It just is what it is. Indirectly propping up regular people’s livelihoods by enriching the Cheese Barons is the best we can do, as stupid as it sounds to actually say that.
Same with the rest of the food system, the airlines, the private utility companies, auto makers, etc. I’m not gonna be the one to just say “well, we should stop propping up these fat-cats,” if it means people literally end up homeless.
The working people are basically hostages. If the government stops playing by the Ultra-Capitalists’ rules, well, they aren’t bluffing. They’ll just fold up a huge portion of whatever industry they’re currently invested in, let people become destitute by the tens of thousands, and re-invest that cash in some new racket.
Complaining about farm and cheese subsidies is like accusing the hostage negotiator of collaborating with criminals, because he sends some pizzas into the bank, during a hostage crisis. The poor hostages are the ones eating most of the fucking pizza. At least they won’t die hungry, if they end up getting shot. Don’t take their pizza away, just to keep it from the hostage-takers.
It was, but I do believe they’ve sold off a lot of it by now
🐮
That’s just the weekly stash
There’s a bunch of these huge warehouse-like caves in Missouri, some are more natural, but many have been developed. They are super valuable because of the natural climate consistency.
An example near Kansas City: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SubTropolis
I replied with this lower down then figured it might as well be a top level comment.
Here is a great YouTube video that explains not only this cheese cave, but the reason it even exists and then where we get the phrase “government cheese” from and the whole government program of propping up the dairy industry.
Wait until you see Iowa’s yogurt lagoon.
Missouri isn’t the Midwest but you are correct in that we store our uprising cheese there
It absolutely is.
The northern quarter maybe. St. Louis possibly. But, the rest of the state may as well be Alabama.
St. Louis, Columbia, Kansas City, and Springfield are civilized. The rest of the state, you’re not entirely wrong. Debts paid off, we’re just saving up to sell the house and expatriate as soon as feasible.
Lol where else does this person think Missouri is located?
It’s obviously for the https://midwest.social/
My people!
Enjoy your cheese.
Ever wonder where the phrase “government cheese” comes from?
Not this, it comes from the free blocks of Velveeta style “cheese” the us government would give low income families in the 1980’s
Sorry for the YouTube link but this explains not only the phrase, but also the entire think this post is about.
Wisconsin is invading next week
This is my retirement plan. When the time comes, I’ll hide in the vast caves and eat cheese the rest of my existence.