What you don't know you don't know, so eat hearty

The government established the policy of blocking private cattlemen from testing for Mad Cow disease some time ago, and I recall commenting on it then, but this week they have renewed the policy:

WASHINGTON: The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well.

Now, of course, if you are really for market solutions and free markets, as the Bushies claim, this makes no sense at all. Why prevent one competitor from spending money to try to gain a competitive edge over others? Isn't that what competition is all about?

Of course, if you understand the real meaning of "market solutions" to the Bushies is favoring the large, wealthy entrenched competitors over the upstarts, because the large wealthy entrenched competitors are likely to give you big bribes campaign contributions, then this all makes sense.