Attorney General Brown and the coalition’s investigation found that from approximately June 2022 to March 2025, the egg producers secretly communicated with each other to coordinate their bidding activity and influence the daily egg price quotes published by Urner Barry, a benchmark pricing service widely used in egg supply contracts. For example, in December 2022, Hickman’s CEO emailed Versova and Cal-Maine executives urging them to submit “strong bids, early and often” to push prices higher.
All three companies then collectively submitted dozens of bids at higher prices, which led to Urner Barry increasing its price quotes. By manipulating the Urner Barry benchmark, the companies artificially inflated the price of eggs paid by retailers and ultimately consumers across the nation.
Under the settlement, all three companies must end their unlawful coordination to manipulate prices, adopt compliance measures to prevent future violations, and fully cooperate with oversight by the states.
The companies must designate antitrust compliance officers who will monitor for violations of the settlement and report violations to the states and DOJ. The 53 million donated eggs will be provided at the companies’ expense to food banks and nonprofit organizations across the participating states and must meet all food safety and regulatory standards.
I have a problem with the way we currently think of “prison” which is the one reason I can’t honestly say “I think these motherfuckers should be in prison.” However, I think that controlling access to resources is power, and the punishment for abuse of that power must include the loss of that power. It can’t just be a fine. The only thing fines accomplish is to add a line item to the cost of doing abusive business, so you have to be more ruthlessly exploitative to compensate.
It doesn’t have to be full incarceration. But individuals should be disempowered from whatever power they were abusing, in a way that prevents them from immediately going back to whatever they were doing. The good ole boy networks need to be pruned and broken up continually or they grow too large, too entrenched. They’ll grow back, so once we clean up this current bloom we need to think about how to keep them from growing out of control, as they historically do, at intervals.
Why can’t we give corporations the death penalty?
I don’t know why we couldn’t, but I don’t know if it helps. If CorpA is dissolved by a court, and all the members immediately incorporate into CorpB and keep on trucking (or more realistically: they all join different existing corporations, maintain their networks, and keep on trucking) what worthwhile change has been accomplished? I think not much.
Corporations aren’t people. They’re composed of people and the documents that bind them together, and I think holding people to account for their actions is a better use of our effort than punishing the paper structures designed to shield people from the consequences of their actions.
Hundreds of thousands of USA citizens and millions of people worldwide are dead because of the instability and uncertainty this cartel created. “Price of eggs” was a major talking point in the election to rally support for the fascists now in office.
What is PA, MD?
Pennsylvania and Maryland. States in the United States. That’s their official post office abbreviations.
Ah, thanks. Didn’t realize it was a list.
