This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a yolk-based condiment of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Cheaper By the Dozen No More | Eggs are multitalented. They play a starring role in breakfast. They often make an appearance during dinner. [1] And dessert? They're all over the stage. [2] Sometimes, they're even in non-edible stuff like fertilizer and face masks. Without easy access to affordable eggs, I fear we may go insane. If that sounds hyperbolic, think for a moment about alllll the yolk-based condiments you currently take for granted. What are frites without garlic aioli?! What is Chick-fil-A without the sauce? What is girl dinner without — gasp! — Caesar dressing??? While Caesar salad isn't going anywhere anytime soon, bird flu is wreaking havoc on our food supply, says Patricia Lopez: Farmers are killing off egg-laying hens in droves. Restaurants like Denny's and Waffle House are rewriting their menus. Meanwhile, McDonald's is treating it like a PR stunt. Grocery stores are placing limits on how many cartons customers can buy. Border patrol agents are confiscating smuggled eggs. And a gallon of gas — typically the ire of the average American voter — looks cheap compared to a dozen eggs. "In Wisconsin, for example, a carton of pasture-raised eggs can set consumers back $10," Patricia writes. As it stands, only about one-third of Americans are happy with the President Donald Trump's handling of prices. And Patricia says, "There will be political hell to pay if the bird flu mutates to become a human outbreak, something almost half of Americans are already worried about." We can't blame the bird flu entirely on Trump — it's been around for a while, and he's only been in office for six weeks — but it is his problem. "So far, he has only made matters worse," Patricia writes. "The mass firings included an unconfirmed number of people working on the bird flu response — a stunning display of bureaucratic incompetence. Officials now are scrambling to find and rehire them." Guess who oversaw those layoffs? Elon Musk, who Noah Feldman says is playing a dangerous game with DOGE. "The obvious lack of strategic planning in the haphazard firings and cuts means that sometimes, the Trump administration will eventually realize that what has been cut was necessary," he writes. In addition to firing those much-needed bird flu scientists, the administration erroneously laid off critical nuclear weapons experts, only adding to the feeling that Musk is moving too fast and breaking too many things. Nia-Malika Henderson says over one-third of Americans worry Musk is cutting necessary programs, and Trump's reputation is suffering as a result. "Americans feel the impact of deep spending cuts," she writes. "National parks are reducing hours due to cuts. The US Department of Veterans Affairs fired, then rehired, health-care workers. (The agency was already beset by staff shortages.) It's hard to imagine, once the dust settles on this haphazard approach to downsizing and cost-cutting, that government will actually function better than it did when Trump took office." You know what's not helping matters? The fate of the nation's food supply is now in the hands of Donald Jr.'s hunting buddy, 37-year-old attorney Kyle Diamantas. He hails from Miami, Florida — where else? — andVanity Fair's Katherine Eban says his LinkedIn profile "is a study in brevity." As the new acting deputy commissioner for human foods at the Food and Drug Administration, Diamantas is in charge of keeping 80% of our food safe from E.coli outbreaks, meth contamination, natural disasters and, of course, avian influenza. He may have experience killing birds, but can he keep them alive and healthy? I wouldn't put all my eggs in his basket, that's for sure. Bonus DOGE reading: Elon Musk shouldn't mess with deposit insurance. — Paul J. Davies Hmm. Why would you dump your CEO when the stock chart looks like this? That's the question on everyone's mind after Unilever, maker of Hellmann's mayonnaise and Ben & Jerry's ice cream (eggs really are everywhere), announced that Hein Schumacher would step down as chief executive officer after less than two years. It's unclear exactly why, but we know the decision was mutual. "From the outside, it's suboptimal," Andrea Felsted writes. "At best, it looks clumsy. At worst, it is a blow to Unilever's already shaky credibility." But Unilever isn't the only business at risk of a credibility crisis. On Wednesday, Javier Blas says BP will announce a highly anticipated Big Oil strategy update. "The most pressing question is seemingly contradictory: BP needs to reduce its huge debt pile, but it needs to do so while paying shareholders, if not more, then at least the same as they were accustomed to. It's the corporate version of squaring the circle," he writes. "As difficult as it is, it's possible. BP loves using its initials for branding wordplays. Once it was 'Beyond Petroleum.' Let's hope 'Big Payouts' will be the replacement for the current less-than-flattering moniker: 'Beyond Profits.'" |
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