Say Anything Blog

With another business that never should never should have gotten our money:

In 2006, Branded Beef Inc. bought a cattle processing plant in Harvey, ND. Owner Juanita Braun said that right after they started their retail business “we found out that the plant that was processing our meat was going to shut down. And so it was either find a way to keep it open or buy it ourselves to keep it open. And we ended up buying it ourselves.”

After purchasing the plant they applied for an Agricultural Products and Utilization Commission (APUC) grant to help defray costs associated with marketing their products. They received a grant of $46,750. In fact, they have received several APUC grants. In 1999, they received $25,000 and $46,000 in 2002 for a total of $117,750. That doesn’t include any other federal, state or local subsidies they have received.

What went wrong.  Not enough capital, bad management, a flawed business plan?  I don’t know, but before you invest in a business the investor needs to look into details of what they are investing in and make sure you aren’t wasting your money.

Once again the state bureaucrats failed us.  Time after time the businesses that fail are ones that the arrogant government has given our money to.

If it’s it a good business they shouldn’t have any problem funding it.  If it’s a bad business then they’re wasting our money. 

We’d be far better off if that $117,750 (and how much more) were left to the people that earned it.  They’d know far better then some government committee what’s the best way to spend or invest it.

And this article brings up another good point.  Why is it that no one knows how much this business might have gotten in subsidies?  Why is it that that information is nearly impossible to get?  Why aren’t the citizens of the state entitled to know where our money is being misspent?