The Orthodox Jewish community in the United States is facing a shortage of kosher meat after the country's biggest producer was forced to halt operations.

In some communities shops have been out of kosher beef for weeks. [...]

Early this month, Agriprocessor in Postville, Iowa, filed for bankruptcy. It had supplied more than half of the country's kosher meat until May when a raid by customs officials found hundreds of illegal immigrants employed there.

Following the raid, production declined and the company has now halted work at this and another plant.

Not that racist idiots distinguished journalists like Lou Dobbs and Glen Beck give a rat's nether regions for the Orthodox Jewish community. After all, there's a larger principle at stake! Now that our economy is headed for third world territory, maybe we'll find some "real Americans" who'll want to work at a meat slaughterhouse for low wages and few benefits. Even one that makes Kosher meats.

Meatpacking plants were typically unionized until 1980, and they paid wages high enough for one worker to support a family. For this reason, many midwestern towns welcomed or tolerated meatpacking plants despite their smells.

Unionization and wages in meatpacking fell 50 percent during the 1980s, while the speed of the kill lines increased by 50 percent. A 1986 US Supreme Court ruling permitted meatpacking companies to merge, and a merger wave permitted four companies, led by IBP with 32,000 employees, to control 80 percent of US meatpacking.

The meatpacking work force in Iowa and other Midwestern states is increasingly comprised of Hispanic and Asian immigrants. Turnover rates are very high--often over 100 percent per year, which means that workers average fewer than six months on the job. Critics argue that meat packers deliberately keep turnover high in order to have most of the workers at entry level wages; companies counter that they try to reduce turnover to reduce training costs.

It is not clear how much training is provided by companies. Meatpacking companies report that they spend up to $3,000 to recruit and train each production employee who, with overtime averaging 10 hours per week, can earn about $25,000 annually. Starting wages are typically in the $5 to $6 per hour range, or $10,000 to $12,000 per year.

Don't you just love the smell of disaster capitalism in the morning? It smells like -- like cow shit! And at minimum wages it offers jobs for the whole family.