arg 10, government regulations on milk prices

johnlockUID: 129399

题目：
10The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a Batavia newspaper.
"The department of agriculture in Batavia reports that the number of dairy farms throughout the country is now 25 percent greater than it was 10 years ago. During this same time period, however, the price of milk at the local Excello Food Market has increased from $1.50 to over $3.00 per gallon. To prevent farmers from continuing to receive excessive profits on an apparently increased supply of milk, the Batavia government should begin to regulate retail milk prices. Such regulation is necessary to ensure both lower prices and an adequate supply of milk for consumers."

提纲：
1 不清楚到底famers 有没有excessive profits
2 不清楚到底有没有increased supply
3 不清楚government regulations 是否一定奏效

正文：
In the letter the author suggest that the Batavia government should regulate retail milk prices to prevent farmers from continuing to receive excessive profits. In support of this proposal the author mentions the increase in the number of local diary farms and the price of milk at a local food market. The proposal is also based ion the assumption of necessity of such regulation in ensuring both lower prices and an adequate supply of milk for consumers. The reasoning suffers from several logical flaws.

First, the author unfairly assumes that farmers are receiving excessive profits. The increase in the price of milk at the local Excello Food Market lends no support to this assumption. The profits a farm achieves are related to many factors, milk price not the only. To be specific, if a farm produces many agricultural products of which only milk sells at a good price, it may still suffer from poor profits. Besides, the cost of management, repair work in machinery and medication for cows or other stocks is unmentioned about its influence on profit. Finally, the increase in milk price at Excello Food Market does not ensure a general upswing of prices on farm produces that may lead to excessive profits for farmers.

Second, the author fails to establish convincing causality between the rise of diary farm numbers and an increase in milk supply. Though 25 percent of new farms are added, the milk supply may still be below the previous level if average production has dropped sharply or average size of the farms has decreased. Even if the total production has increased, the supply may still drop if more milk has been shipped out of Batavia. Unless more evidence are provided,

Finally, it is open to doubt to assume that government regulation on retail milk price will ensure both lower price and adequate supply of milk for consumers. Above all, the data is not given on the proportion of milk in wholesale and retail. As a result, whether the regulation on retail price swill constitute an adequate market force to yield noticeable effect on the average price remains unclear, let alone to prevent farmers from receiving excessive profits. What’s more, lower prices and adequate supply of milk may be mutually exclusive because if prices go down, farm owners may turn to other productions as cattle or poultry that may be more remunerative. Besides, government regulations have always a long way to go before visible effects can be seen. It takes time to conduct investigation before making regulatory decisions, to have them stamped by the legislation, to do necessary training of concerned administrative staff to carry out the regulations properly , to balance market forces and government intervention and to fight against the protests of disfavored interest groups and lobbyists.

In sum, more evidences are needed to make clear whether there are excessive profits for farmers. In addition, careful evaluation of the effectiveness of government regulations must precede the final conclusion.

johnlockUID: 129399

这里人气也太过分了吧，一下子沉入洋底了

johnlockUID: 129399

还要我自己顶一次，我好同情版主啊

imjasonUID: 176604

可能是你的标题的格式有问题
看下这个，我当初也错了的
https://bbs.gter.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=208286

imjasonUID: 176604

In the letter the author suggest that the Batavia government should regulate retail milk prices to prevent farmers from continuing to receive excessive profits. In support of this proposal the author mentions the increase in the number of local diary farms and the price of milk at a local food market. The proposal is also based ion[on] the assumption of necessity of such regulation in ensuring both lower prices and an adequate supply of milk for consumers. The reasoning suffers from several logical flaws.

First, the author unfairly assumes that farmers are receiving excessive profits. The increase in the price of milk at the local Excello Food Market lends no support to this assumption. The profits a farm achieves are related to many factors, milk price not the only. To be specific, if a farm produces many agricultural products of which only milk sells at a good price, it may still suffer from poor profits. Besides, the cost of management, repair work in machinery and medication for cows or other stocks is unmentioned about its influence on profit. Finally, the increase in milk price at Excello Food Market does not ensure a general upswing of prices on farm produces that may lead to excessive profits for farmers.[This paragraph is excellent in logical sequence. I like it]

Second, the author fails to establish convincing causality between the rise of diary farm numbers and an increase in milk supply. Though 25 percent of new farms are added, the milk supply may still be below the previous level if average production has dropped sharply or average size of the farms has decreased. Even if the total production has increased, the supply may still drop if more milk has been shipped out of Batavia. Unless more evidence are provided, [ be lost?]

Finally, it is open to doubt to assume that government regulation on retail milk price will ensure both lower price and adequate supply of milk for consumers. Above all, the data is not given on the proportion of milk in wholesale and retail. As a result, whether the regulation on retail price swill[still?] constitute an adequate market force to yield noticeable effect on the average price remains unclear, let alone to prevent farmers from receiving excessive profits. What’s more, lower prices and adequate supply of milk may be mutually exclusive because if prices go down, farm owners may turn to other productions as cattle or poultry that may be more remunerative. Besides, government regulations have always a long way to go before visible effects can be seen. It takes time to conduct investigation before making regulatory decisions, to have them stamped by the legislation, to do necessary training of concerned administrative staff to carry out the regulations properly , to balance market forces and government intervention and to fight against the protests of disfavored interest groups and lobbyists.

In sum, more evidences are needed to make clear whether there are excessive profits for farmers. In addition, careful evaluation of the effectiveness of government regulations must precede the final conclusion.
[This is a very outstanding passage even though there are some spelling flaws.]