The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/02/magazine/money-issue-baby-formula-crime-ring.html

by aleyan • 5 years ago

42 76 5 years ago

jostmey• 5 years ago

I remember baby formula from Amazon arriving with the tamper seal opened. I immediately realized what happened. Someone purchased baby formula, used it, filled it with powder, sold it at the Amazon market place, and then Amazon shipped it to me (Amazon thought the tampered product was indistinguishable from its factory purchased products). I stopped ordering anything food related from Amazon.

Pay attention to the tamper seal. That's all I could do. I bought all my formula direct at the grocery store after my Amazon experience

jrumbut2• 5 years ago

That's terrifying! You would think such an issue would be worthy of a major investigation, what would happen if a baby lived on that powder for weeks?

martamorena943• 5 years ago

Yeah, that's should be something along the lines of:

* Fraud: Selling a product not as advertised

* Tampering: Selling a product with the tamper seal broken

* Intent of causing bodily harm to newborns

Yeah that should give a nice little jail sentence lol. If this doesn't warrant an investigation then I don't know.

astura• 5 years ago

I mean, there has been investigations, many investigations, and they've found this sorta thing is Amazon's MO.

Example:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/08/report-finds-mor...

Among the Journal's findings: 116 products falsely listed as FDA-approved, including toys, which the agency does not regulate; 80 listings for infant "sleeping wedges" the FDA says can cause suffocation and that Amazon had previously banned; 1,412 electronics listings falsely claiming to be UL-certified; 2,324 toys that failed to include federally mandated choking hazard warnings; and more.
The WSJ commissioned tests of 10 specific children's products it bought on Amazon, many carrying the enigmatic "Amazon's Choice" badge. Of those, four failed tests based on federal safety standards, including one that contained excessively high levels of lead.
A 23-year-old man in Missouri purchased a motorcycle helmet from Amazon that was at the time listed as certified as meeting US Department of Transportation safety standards. Later that year, however, he was killed in a crash while riding. A federal investigation later found that the helmet did not meet DOT standards and was recalled. The WSJ, however, found the product still for sale, with an active listing promising compliance, until the WSJ contacted Amazon to inquire about it.
The WSJ's investigation found 157 products for sale that Amazon has already banned from sale on its site. The motorcycle helmet was one of more than 2,300 product listings altered or pulled after the WSJ drew them to Amazon's attention. Yet, within two weeks, the WSJ found that at least 130 of these problem items reappeared, "some sold by the same vendors previously identified by the Journal under different listings."

spoonjim2• 5 years ago

No the lesson is don’t order food products from Amazon! Order them from Target which has a far more controlled supply chain.

lotsofpulp3• 5 years ago

Unfortunately, Target has also introduced third party sellers on their website so it's no longer as easy to trust them as it once was.

Costco or the brand's website itself is my most trusted source for now.

koolba• 5 years ago

More generally don’t purchase anything that gets absorbed into your body from Amazon. That’s food, creams, gels, toothpaste...

afandian• 5 years ago

What country are you in? Is that a serious criminal offense? Did law enforcement get involved?

BrissyCoder• 5 years ago

What was the replacement powder exactly do you know? Sounds like something you should have involved police in.

SilverRed• 5 years ago

Whatever was the cheapest I'd guess. Flour sounds like a good candidate.

megablast• 5 years ago

What do you think?? They tested it in a lab??

bagels• 5 years ago

Is there anywhere online with a large selection (electronics or food) that doesn't allow third party selling and actually sells legitimate product?

dec0dedab0de• 5 years ago

It's not the third party that makes it a problem. It's the comingling. So if you buy it from one company it could have actually came from another. So there is no way for the bad 3rd party to be held accountable. As far as I know Amazon is the only marketplace that does this.

klipt2• 5 years ago

I trust Target and Walmart over Amazon for anything food related.

slacktide• 5 years ago

This also sometimes happens with returns at retail stores. I bought a $20 gallon of Acetone at Home Depot, took it home, and all it contained was water.

codr7• 5 years ago

Alternatively, don't feed your baby processed crap food.

staticautomatic• 5 years ago

This comment is wholly ignorant of the many good reasons one might have for feeding formula to a baby.

whatshisface• 5 years ago

The same fraud could happen with other foods.

beervirus• 5 years ago

Shaming women for not breastfeeding is really shitty.

conductr4• 5 years ago

And really common. We've actually heard horror stories of the lactation nurses can be the worst. Personally, we're pretty open about the fact that my wife had a double mastectomy yet we still got "I would never" type of shade thrown our way for formula feeding. The struggle is real and it's not the right time to be shaming a new mother.

rblatz• 5 years ago

Agreed 100%, the pro-breastfeeding movement on the whole is a great movement that attacked some really bad medical advice from last century. But it has gone way too far, to the point that women feel ashamed or guilty for not being able to breast feed their child.

My wife had difficulties breastfeeding our daughter and ended up doing exclusive pumping for over a year. It was a huge strain on her, both mentally and physically. Then she still felt guilty for not being able to actually breast feed our daughter directly. Any woman that is able to provide any amount of breastmilk for any amount of time is an absolute saint. Women who can't or choose not to are also amazing and no one should be shaming or second guessing their choice on how to best take care of themselves and their child.

germinalphrase• 5 years ago

There are many reasons - medical, personal and otherwise, that families rely on formula.

willcipriano• 5 years ago

Let me guess, zero children?

dang4• 5 years ago

Please don't take HN threads into flamewar.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

fredrikholm4• 5 years ago

Genuine question: Is living in America as horrible as it sounds for the average, non-rich citizen?

Impression I get from the media:

    * Education sets you in semi-if-not-permanent debt.

    * Housing is impossibly expensive.

    * Single hospital visit can be thousand of dollars.

    * Critical medication is hundreds of dollars a month (or more).

    * Unpaid, (effectively) mandatory overtime. 

    * Many people work several jobs (as adults).

    * No paid vacation.

    * No paid maternal leave.

    * No paid paternal leave.

    * Paternal leave is taboo/strange.

    * Maternal leave is weeks/month or two.

From the outside, it sounds like your average American is living in 1930s Poland, not the land of the free.

spoonjim2• 5 years ago

Well you definitely have the wrong idea. About 20% of Americans do live in extreme economic precarity. But things are not out of a horror movie. That’s in fact why there hasn’t been a violent revolution, things aren’t bad enough here (yet?).

stouset2• 5 years ago

Well you definitely have the wrong idea. About 20% of Americans do live in extreme economic precarity.

I think they do have the right idea. Many of their points stands for even the bottom 80%. We've simply grown to accept that "this just is the way things are".

22% of the population between 18-65 owe student loans, which might not sound like much until you realize that only 40% of the population has a college degree. So over 50% of college-educated adults still have student loan debt. That number is also heavily weighted towards those 40 and younger due to rapidly ballooning costs, and will likely increase to 75%+ of college-educated adults within the next twenty years.

0.35% of adults file for medical bankruptcy alone every year. I couldn't find direct statistics on the total number of bankruptcies, but naïvely this implies that somewhere around 5–10% of the adult population will file for medical bankruptcy at some point in their lifetime. The majority of these bankruptcies were for people with health insurance.

Maternal leave is by law unpaid, and few companies offer paid leave and paternal leave is virtually unheard of outside of extremely progressive companies.

59% of the workforce is hourly and thus generally does not get paid leave of any kind.

endisneigh2• 5 years ago

It's unlikely you will get a representative set of answers form this site, which skews towards what you might call "upper-class" individuals.

That being said, if you're very, very poor it's not terrible to be a US citizen.

- Community college is free via a Pell grant.

- Housing is expensive, but you will qualify for Section 8 (welfare) and will eventually get housing for free.

- Hospital costs are irrelevant if you're very poor (5th percentile or so)

- Life-saving medicine is in the same boat. You would likely qualify for Medicaid if you're dirt poor

- You would likely work multiple jobs if you're dirt poor.

- You likely wouldn't have vacation if you're dirt poor.

- Same thing with maternal and paternal leave.

That being said your life in the USA depends very much on where you live. If you lived in Massachusetts, for example, you get maternal and paternal leave.

The real struggle in the USA is if you're between the 25th and 50th percentile. Where you're rich enough to not qualify for the things I mentioned above, but not so rich that you're on a more or less guaranteed path to financial independence.

fredrikholm4• 5 years ago

That sounds more reasonable, thank you.

Your final point applies here too (Sweden), where you're in a position of maximal welfare, where taking a job would disqualify you. Most people end up taking the job to get out of the hellhole that is welfare, but you find the occasional individual that settles and feeds off of the system despite ability and opportunity to work.

lotsofpulp3• 5 years ago

The real struggle in the USA is if you're between the 25th and 50th percentile.

I would say 20th to 80th percentile. You're phased out of benefits, but you're not earning enough to build wealth, especially in higher cost of living areas where the 60th+ percentile earnings are.

SavantIdiot2• 5 years ago

That being said, if you're very, very poor it's not terrible to be a US citizen.

..then...

You would likely work multiple jobs if you're dirt poor.
You likely wouldn't have vacation if you're dirt poor.

I guess that's "not terrible" in your book, compared to starving in the streets?

Community college is free via a Pell grant.

No it is not free. [1]

The maximum a pell grant can be is ~$5700. Community college costs are skyrocketing and Pell grants do not cover the entire cost.

Housing is expensive, but you will qualify for Section 8 (welfare) and will eventually get housing for free

No it is not free. It is a fixed subsidy, not 100% costs. [2]

It is not required that landlords accept section 8 vouchers. [3] Many do not, hence homelessness ensues, but it is VERY helpful.

It's unlikely you will get a representative set of answers form this site, which skews towards what you might call "upper-class" individuals.

Hello irony!

[1] https://www2.ed.gov/programs/fpg/index.html

[2] https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/what-cau...

[3] https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-section-8-landlords-2...

rhino369• 5 years ago

America has a high ceiling and a low floor for quality of living.

For above average, America is arguably better (with some caveats). For the average person, its better than Europe (in that you can afford more since you are paid more and taxed less, but Europe definitely gets more paid time off / leave). If you are poor enough to qualify for government assistance its roughly on par with Europe--though maybe a bit worse.

But there is a bottom 10-25% (where the line is, I'm not sure) that would be a lot better off in Europe.

The average college debt (~30k) is about the same as a single year's difference income between high school and college graduates (~30k). They are paying for a personal investment.

Housing (not in California, NYC, or DC) is cheaper in the USA than other rich countries).

90%+ have health insurance that covers hospital visits

A high percentage will have medicine covered by their insurance

Less than 6% of people have multiple jobs.

No mandatory paid vacation (but any halfway decent job will get you 2-3 weeks). Europe gets more, but we get paid more. I'd probably rather have the time off, but some people would rather have the money.

mateo411• 5 years ago

Education can be really expensive. However, there are many great state schools, and there is also a lot of financial aid. Many people get a great education and are not saddled with debt.

Housing is impossibly expensive in metro areas where people make a lot of money. The US is a large country and there is a lot of variability to housing costs throughout the US.

A single hospital bill could be thousands of dollars or 0 if it's covered by your insurance. If you are really poor then you get insurance from the State. If you have a good job, then you get insurance through your work.

It could be or it could be not very much depending on the factors described regarding hospital visits.

Unpaid, effectively mandatory overtime applies to salaried people with well paying jobs. It's a bad situation, but if this applies to you, then the other issues aren't as bad.

Many poor people work more than one job. Working class people need to get paid more. Maybe the minimum wage will be raised at the Federal level, but probably not. Minimum wage is also location dependent, so it's already higher than $15 in some locales.

People with good jobs get PTO. Working class people in bad jobs do not get paid vacation.

States provide some benefit for maternal and paternal leave. It's not 100% of your wages though.

I don't think Paternal leave is taboo or strange. I don't think that's part of the culture.

Maternal leave depends on the State and the company that they work for. If you have a good job, then you will get more Maternal leave.

I'm sure there were a lot of rugged individuals in 1930s Poland.

tnkhonethk• 5 years ago

* My education left me with 12k USD of debt, but provided significant earning opportunities. For me, it was worthwhile. I did elect to forgo a graduate degree, despite my above-average grades and desire to obtain one, because it would have incurred upwards of 50k USD of additional debt. One of my friends graduated with nearly 80k USD of debt to obtain a masters degree of engineering, and has not paid it back fully after ten years. Another person I knew graduated with a bachelors of fine arts from the most expensive institution in my state, with nearly 200k USD worth of debt. It has ruined her financial life forever. So, there are many possible outcomes. Meanwhile, my mother worked part-time during the summer holiday and was able to use those wages to fully pay for her own tuition and board at an excellent state school. In general, I believe the extension of easy credit, un-dischargeable in bankruptcy, has encouraged schools to raise prices without limit.

* Housing is highly location dependent. Many communities have been utterly deprived of income-producing work, and housing there can be had for a pittance. Places with opportunity to work are flooded by those seeking out the few remaining opportunities. In the past, companies and individuals would go to less-populated areas to establish manufacturing or farming ventures, making profitable use of the cheap land. with those sorts of industries leaving the country or being consolidate by conglomerates, the few remaining opportunities to earn income are consolidated into a minority of cities. Cheap credit here, too, has allowed the desirable land in these areas to be consolidated into a few financial-real-estate instruments. In other words, there is historically extraordinary demand for a commodity which is practically monopolized.

* Single hospital visits are always thousands of dollars. In the past, the American Medical Association lobbied congress to increase the cost of medical care, because they were embarrassed that the poor were able to afford the services of physicians. See the history of "friendly societies" in the US for details. Then, also, medical insurance began to be offered by companies to their employees as a way to increase tax-free wages. When this practice became common, some politicians viewed it as politically convenient to force these insurance companies to cover non-emergency procedures and doctors visits as well. This is an economic problem called "third party payer" which always results in rising prices. Medical practitioners cannot legally have two pricing tiers for the insured and the uninsured, so the high prices are what sticks.

* As for medications, take note that the previous president edicted that the prices of certain medications be lowered. The current, mainstream, president rescinded those edictions in less than one month. It is in the interest of the powerful and wealthy in this country that these prices remain high.

* The way employees may be treated depends on their classification. Hourly wage employees are legally required to be paid a premium for overtime work. Salaried employees are considered exempt from such requirements. This creates an incentive to classify employees such that they are exempted from the overtime protections. See also the practice of classifying employees as contractors to exempt them from legal protections, or preventing hourly employees from working enough hours to qualify for certain legal protections.

* The previously mentioned employee classification system is the direct cause of many people having to work multiple jobs. The people I know that had to behave this way would have preferred to work longer hours at a single employer but that would have caused their employer to provide them with the legal obligations for a full-time employee.

* Paid time off for any reason is a feature of many positions but not all of them. In practice, employers would just work to re-classify employees such that their overhead per employee was at a level they considered acceptable, regardless of legal obligations, as stated previously.

Life in the US is largely controlled by the very wealthy (oligarchs) rather than by democratic processes. This has been the mainstream political order in this country since at least the 1970s, but has been present to a smaller degree for some time before that. I will further note that there are exceptionally vast cultural, moral, practical, and ideological differences between different parts of the country, and your individual experience depends heavily on that fact.

fredrikholm4• 5 years ago

Very interesting read. Thank you.

lotsofpulp3• 5 years ago

As for medications, take note that the previous president edicted that the prices of certain medications be lowered. The current, mainstream, president rescinded those edictions in less than one month. It is in the interest of the powerful and wealthy in this country that these prices remain high.

That’s not exactly what happened.

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/07/trumps-executive-orders-on...

tejohnso• 5 years ago

Financially, it sounds pretty bad and unstable:

more than a third of Americans said they could not cover an unexpected $400 home repair or hospital bill without going into debt
a third of U.S. adults say they are having difficulty covering everyday costs such as food, rent or car payments
survey after survey for years has found that most people in the U.S. live paycheck to paycheck.

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/16/941292021/paycheck-to-paychec...

bluGill2• 5 years ago

I know couples where both are doctors - household income it closer to a million/year - who still live paycheck to paycheck and have problems covering everyday costs like food and the car payments. You understand that the car payment are high end luxury cars. They also have the boat payment, the mansion payment. Even at that they might be okay if they weren't buying other toys every months with everything that might or might not be leftover. Understand too that trouble paying for food means the cheap takeout joint instead of the most expensive restaurants.

The point is if you don't take care there are a lot of things to spend money on. The poor in my experience tend to do slightly better with savings - they too have harder problems, but having had to live with nothing - instead of what feels like nothing but is really a lot - they will attempt to have some backup plans for when the money doesn't reach the end of the month.

conductr4• 5 years ago

It's frequently the people that are unstable because they just don't save. I always think of my brother in law when I see stats like this. He would definitely answer truthfully YES to all 3 points while I would say NO to all 3. BUT somehow,

He buys every new apple product on release day He's had 3 brand new cars while I've driven my current car (my car is 8 years old now) We can plan a family vacation 18 months out and when time comes he can't manage to pay for a <$1000 flight He gets an inheritance and immediately posts pictures about shopping trips (it was ~$40K) while not being able to pay for flights I mentioned above His only kid goes to a private school that he can't afford so has to be on payment plan which cost 10% more He does "debt consolidation" then maxes out his credit cards His household income is about ~$150K and they live in a small affordable town

Also he's in 40s and married with a kid. I think this is pretty "average" behavior unfortunately for Americans though.

bluedino2• 5 years ago

40% of us have iPhones, it can't be that bad.

ALittleLight• 5 years ago

There is definitely a "sweet spot" where things could be very uncomfortable for you, if you're doing well enough to not qualify for government assistance but poorly enough to need some kind of help. In general I think a lot of stories are somewhat sensationalized and that our culture is more enthusiastically self-critical than Sweden's.

Schools are an example, how you always hear about the ruinous costs of expensive schools, but it forgets all manner of grants, academic assistance, and the existence of much cheaper schools (everything from in-state to community colleges). A greater portion of American citizens have tertiary education compared to Sweden[1], so it would be weird if education were effectively/relatively more expensive here.

Healthcare is similar. It's provided free to people who can't afford it and people with good jobs will get health insurance from their jobs. There is a window, the sweet spot I referred to, where people can "technically" afford healthcare so it isn't given free by the government, but affording it is a genuine hardship for them or an unexpected illness crushes them financially. You can also shrug off lots of medical debt by declaring bankruptcy or telling the hospital you will declare bankruptcy unless they negotiate better terms for you to pay - and hospitals can't turn you away in an emergency.

Housing is impossibly expensive only in some areas and incredibly cheap in others. Go on Zillow and look at houses in Houston, for example. I expect you'll see large and luxurious houses for relatively good prices. Houses in some cities (Seattle, New York, SF) are expensive but not in all/most.

Regarding overtime it depends how you get paid. If you're paid by the hour then unpaid overtime would be illegal. If you're paid salary then the expectation is that you do your job if it takes 8 hours a day or if it takes 12 (or if it takes 4). Some jobs exploit this but again, it's right in the sweet spot. High end jobs either compensate you enough so it's worth it (think: your high priced business lawyer will answer your 2 am phone call, but you pay him millions) and other jobs won't exploit you too much because you'll leave if they try it (work life balance isn't good).

I have less knowledge around maternity leave and paid vacation. I've only seen that stuff from my perspective and I've been lucky enough to work at places where both have been generous.

1 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiar...

alistairSH• 5 years ago

While that's all true, in the literal sense that those protections/benefits aren't legislated in the US, a significant number (maybe a majority, don't know for sure) of workers do get these things from their employer.

Education - yeah, this one is a problem. College costs too much. State schools in my area are $18k/year for in-state students and $51k/year for out-of-state/international students. That doesn't include room, board, book/supplies.

Housing - highly dependent on region. NYC, SF, LA are very expensive, but so are London and Tokyo. DC, Boston, Chicago are expensive, but "affordable" in the sense that most people with solid employment can purchase a home (anecdote - 2 friends of mine are UPS delivery drivers and both owned homes in their late-20s).

Health care - most workers have insurance through their employer. There are often large co-pays and deductibles. And the US as a unit overspends massively on health-care compared to Europe, Japan, and others.

Mandatory OT - highly dependent on job. Hourly workers get OT pay. Salaried workers (exempt) do not. IMO, a lot of salaried workers are misclassified as exempt when they should be hourly wage earners, but that cow left the barn a long time ago.

Vacation/PTO/holidays - highly dependent on job. Most salaried workers receive 3+ weeks/year of PTO. Hourly workers is hit or miss. FWIW, I have 5 weeks vacation, 2 weeks sick leave, and 10 holidays. This is about as good as it gets in the US and I've been at my employer 18 years (stared with 3 weeks leave, 2 sick, 10 holidays).

Parental leave - yeah, we lag WAY behind here. It's terrible.

1930s Poland we are not. But, there's LOTS of room for improvement.

[insert political rant about people voting against their own interests]

“John Steinbeck once said that socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” -― Ronald Wright

908B64B197• 5 years ago

A lot of these generalizations comes from headlines and they often don't hold true (or there's more to the story but it's not clickbaity enough). Some of it is flat out misinformation.

A good example is education. Community Colleges are, mostly, free. State schools are incredibly affordable and private non-profits (think MIT) often have need blind admission where they will make sure anyone that is admitted can attend. But there are for-profit schools that will try and charge the maximum they can and it's those you hear about in the news.

dang4• 5 years ago

Please don't take HN threads into nationalistic flamewar. We don't want that here. More generally, please don't take HN threads on generic ideological tangents. They lead to extremely repetitive discussion (the opposite of what we want on this site), and usually turn nasty if not outright hellish.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

danlugo92• 5 years ago

I saw no hint of any of that in Grandparenrs comment.

fredrikholm4• 5 years ago

Forgive me, this was not my intent. Since the election campaign of your former president, the impression that has gotten broadcast outside of the US has looked bleak. In combination, I've read quite a few stories from HN with similar subjects as OP, so my question was one of curiosity, just very poorly phrased. I apologize.

madcaptenor• 5 years ago

Based on the date, it looks like I literally missed this article because I was standing in the aisle of a grocery store trying to decide which formula to buy for my three-day-old baby.

subungual• 5 years ago

Ha-- having been in that situation this past October, that simple description is incredibly evocative for me. Even in that dazed, sleepless state, though, I remember a sudden upwelling of intense sadness when I realized for the first time how expensive such a basic necessity was... and how they felt the need to keep it all locked up. Real moment of clarity about the state of this country (US).

conductr4• 5 years ago

Lol. Based on date, we were pregnant and deciding which formula to use since we knew ahead breastfeeding was not an option for us. The funny part is we never used any of it because the little shit would only eat the pre-made liquid form and we only bought powder types. I still don't get why but the exact same product he loved came in a powder form and it was really incompatible for him. The joke was "he has expensive tastes"

Also, my advice to all new parents is don't stock up or plan too much on food related items/tools. Don't buy a dozen bottles until you know they like them. This applies into toddlerhood.

drewzero12• 5 years ago

That's great advice! We got a bunch of a couple kinds of bottles, there ended up being a few that he liked and the rest he just refused.

bluedino2• 5 years ago

My son had a bad reaction to regular formula, so we're stuck with using Enfamil Nutramigen. It's about $44 a can at Target or Walmart, and he goes through just over a can a week.

I've went on their website and mailed in the slip to get coupons, but they never send us any for this particular formula, just the other varieties. They are fairly valuable coupons, so we give them friends who can use them.

We are fortunate enough to be able to afford it, but it'd be nice to get a discount on what's basically $200/month.

One tip we've found is to ask the pediatrician's office for samples, they'll give us a couple small cans or bottles of ready-to-use formula when we ask.

bombcar• 5 years ago

Sign up for Target Circle and use the Target card - 5% back by default and they OFTEN run a "buy two formula, get a $10 gift card" deals. Keep an eye for those.

lekeve• 5 years ago

Same situation with my young one. Nutramigen worked great but caused runny poops. We went with HiPP HA Combiotik which really improved our baby's skin.

It's also a little cheaper than Nutramigen, especially if you buy in larger quantities (8-12 boxes at a time).

dang4• 5 years ago

Discussed at the time:

The baby formula crime ring - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17009675 - May 2018 (17 comments)

mickeypi• 5 years ago

Another reason to breastfeed, if that's a viable option for the parents.

analog31• 5 years ago

Some years ago, I noticed at my supermarket, that the baby formula was kept under lock and key, next to the cigarettes. I asked myself: "Now who's going to steal baby formula, when anybody who can't afford it is probably on assistance." Then I read this article.

das4119• 5 years ago

So the government does its thing via WIC and distorts the market. The price goes up as the price-sensitive portion of the market disappears. Why wouldn't crime take advantage of this?

Alternative restated question: where are the competitors working to lower the price in a functioning economic dynamic? Enjoying the profits of a distorted market.

hristov• 5 years ago

It is a bit disappointing, that in what we consider to be an advanced capitalist economy there are these pockets of exorbitantly high prices.

The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

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