Meatonomics : how the rigged economics of meat and dairy make you consume too much-- and how to eat better, live longer, and spend smarter

"Few consumers are aware of the economic forces behind the production of meat, fish, eggs, and dairy. Yet omnivore and herbivore alike, the forces of meatonomics affect us in many ways. Most importantly, we've lost the ability to decide for ourselves what - and how much - to eat. Those decisions are made for us by animal food producers who control our buying choices with artificially-low prices, misleading messaging, and heavy control over legislation and regulation. Learn how and why they do it and how you can respond. Written in a clear and accessible style, 'Meatonomics' provides vital insight into how the economics of animal food production influence our spending, eating, health, prosperity, and longevity. 'Meatonomics' is the first book to add up the huge 'externalized' costs that the animal food system imposes on taxpayers, animals and the environment, and it finds these costs total about $414 billion yearly. With yearly retail sales of around $250 billion, that means that for every $1 of product they sell, meat and dairy producers impose almost $2 in hidden costs on the rest of us. But if producers were forced to internalize these costs, a $4 Big Mac would cost about $11."--Publisher description. In this “provocative and persuasive work,” the health advocate reveals the dirty economics of meat—an industry that's eating into your wallet (Publishers Weekly). Few Americans are aware of the economic system that supports our country's supply of animal foods. Yet these forces affect us in a number of ways—none of them good. Though we only pay a few dollars per pound of meat at the grocery store, we pay far more in tax-fueled government subsidies—$38 billion more, to be exact. And subsidies are just one layer of meat's hidden cost. But in Meatonomics, lawyer and sustainability advocate David Robinson Simon offers a path toward lasting solutions. Animal food producers maintain market dominance with artificially low prices, misleading PR, and an outsized influence over legislation. But counteracting these manipulations is easy—with the economic sanity of plant-based foods. In Meatonomics, Simon demonstrates: How government-funded marketing influences what we think of as healthy eatingHow much of our money is spent to prop up the meat industryHow we can change our habits and our country for the better “Spectacularly important.” —John Robbins, author of The Food Revolution “[A] well-researched, passionately written book.” —Publishers Weekly The brave new world of government marketing Massaging the message : shaping consumer beliefs Sausage-making and lawmaking : influence in the political process Regulatory conflict and consumer confusion Feeding at the subsidy trough Diseases and doctor bills The sustainability challenge The costs of cruelty Fishing follies Recipes for change. MEATONOMICS is the first book to fully explore the murky economics underlying animal food production and its revelations are shocking. Like Freakonomics, it demonstrates how seemingly bizarre economic forces impact our everyday lives - how we're all subject to incentives no matter how counter-intuitive they may appear.