There is no free market when it comes to baby formula. It's monopoly capitalism.
My drawings, paintings and collage can be found on Instagram @klonskyart
It has been over four decades since I had to purchase baby formula.
Or fed my baby child from a bottle.
The three o’clock feeding.
Testing the temperature of the formula on my wrist.
Pacing the kitchen in semi-darkness as my daughter (we had two baby girls five years apart) satisfied her hunger as most of our neighbors slept.
Gently patting here back until I heard the burp.
I think back to those days and know that the current crisis of formula shortage can only be a terror for the millions of parents who rely on its production.
They are mostly poor parents, like we were.
The system is not kind to working mothers who might otherwise breast feed or to those who can’t.
Most babies born in the U.S. are given at least some formula. But poor parents, working class parents, are more likely than wealthier parents to use formula over breastfeeding and they start earlier due to the having no parental leave and the lack of opportunities on the job to breastfeed.
Only three companies, Abbott, Gerber, and Mead Johnson, control the market. The federal government has encouraged the creation of a formula monopoly which is why the recent loss of Abbott’s products from store shelves has left many parents with few or no options
“Let’s be very clear,” Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in response to the formula disaster. “This is a capitalist country. The government does not make baby formula, nor should it. Companies make formula.”
But not many. It’s a monopoly.
Some have called for a greater reliance on the free market and less regulation.
I don’t believe the solution here is less regulation and more corporations making formula.
The people’s basic needs should not be left to what some call the free market. There is no free market. As markets develop they tend to become monopolies.
As with baby formula.