Inflation didn’t eat your steak. A cartel did

Once upon a time, you paid fifty bucks for a steak only if your waiter wore a tux. Now you pay it under fluorescent lights at the supermarket. 

That’s not inflation. That’s a Brazilian beef cartel squeezing American families. Here’s the part no one ever explains: 

Beef prices aren’t set on the ranch. They’re set in the slaughterhouse — the place where cattle are turned into the burgers and steaks you buy at the store. Control that step, and you control the price. Period. 

And right now, America’s slaughterhouses are controlled by a foreign-dominated cartel tied to Brazil. 

The United States has over half a million cattle ranches. But almost all of their cattle must pass through a tiny number of meatpacking plants before reaching your plate. Just four companies