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A massive hacking incident against beef processing giant JBS caused an estimated 20% of U.S. beef packing plants to grind to a halt earlier this week. JBS was quick to get things back online, but the attack raises questions about cyber security and market consolidation.
Cattle ranchers across the region have expressed concerns about certain companies getting too much power and affecting too much of the market. According to USDA estimates, only four companies control about 80% of the beef processing market.
“I think there’s a concern in the cattle industry of putting all your eggs in just too few baskets,” said Eric Belasco, an agricultural economics professor at Montana State University.
A massive hacking incident against beef processing giant JBS caused an estimated 20% of U.S. beef packing plants to grind to a halt earlier this week. JBS was quick to get things back online, but the attack raises questions about cyber security and market consolidation.
by Charles Mudede • Mar 5, 2021 at 8:45 am Those were the days. Charles Mudede
What tune will we soon be singing to bad traffic? Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. According to
MyNorthwest, WSDOT s COVID-19 Multimodal Transportation System Performance Dashboard shows that traffic volumes around the state are only off 3% from this time last year. Also, major routes in the Puget Sound area are now between 90% and 100% of pre-pandemic levels. And what are we to make of this? That the lockdown did nothing to change our transportation habits. We still love our cars too much. Indeed, we may even love them more in the post-pandemic period than we did in the pre-pandemic one. You do not have to wear a mask in your car. You do have to wear one (even two) on a bus or train. You do not have to social distance. You can be all the things you are and want to be while sitting forever in traffic.
2020 - $34 million loss
“In the classic theory of gambling addiction there is a winning phase and losing phase and a desperation phase,” says Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. He says those listed losses follow a pattern that he’s seen many times. Whyte says he’s not trying to diagnose someone he’s never met.
“.but when you see that classic pattern of wins, and then losses and then desperation, which often leads to extreme losses, that fits a classical pattern of someone who does have a gambling problem,” Whyte says.
Montana State professor Belasco says in his class, students buy and sell commodities like cattle to experience how the market works firsthand. Belasco is surprised at the list of losses attributed to Easterday, saying his students have a better trading track record.