Afternoon Open thread

Hi everybody...hope everybody is having a good day.

I went up to Northway Mall for a few hours to walk through the "Farm Show" being held in the wide-open (read: empty) spaces of the mall. The show drew a lot of people but there actually aren't many stores there that can take advantage of the increased traffic.

As most of you know I worked in the ag industry for over 10 years and this Northway Mall show was one of the staples of the company I worked for. They weren't even represented there today. I also noticed that the exhibitors came from companies much farther away than usual. Chilton, Pound Fond du Lac, Eau Claire. Usually this was just a local show for local dealers. I think consolidation in the ag industry has reached a tipping point....it's sad really.

I talked to one of my old competitors and he said that the show was "slow" and the people he talked to were sort of down in the dumps...why? Because milk futures took another big hit just yesterday. AND The Bush* budget eliminates or reduces two subsidies that the dairy farmers rely upon AND ADD A MILK TAX. That's the way to kill an ag industry isn't it. Less $$$$ = fewer farmers and fewer farmers = fewer dealers and fewer dealers =fewer manufacturers and fewer manufacturers = fewer manufacturing jobs.

I think I'm going to have to get used to this....better practice for my next career....

Sir, would you like fries with that order?

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