Opinion: Time to prune the fruit police

Even when flagged by the courts, the most outrageous fruit and vegetable market perversions enabled by the government do not quietly fade away. The government simply takes a different course.
Under Horne v. USDA, the Supreme Court ruled that forcing raisin growers to turn over part of their crop to the government was the taking of private property and required just compensation. So now the Department of Agriculture says raisin-supply restrictions will be amended. But sell more raisins than what the raisin cartel wants and the feds will step in.
In all, the USDA foists 28 fruit and vegetable marketing orders backed by cartels of various growers.
Step outside the “guidelines” and “industry members (will) use government compulsion … to maintain ‘order’ in the marketplace,” notes Heritage Foundation scholar Daren Bakst.
Simply put, it’s price fixing. And by enabling it, the government is “keeping Americans from freely making a living” while showing little regard for the prices consumers ultimately pay.
Read more: http://triblive.com/opinion/editorials/9301038-74/government-fruit-raisin#ixzz3pZq6IjxG
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