Chinese Ham.

       Well folks, here it is at long last. A Chinese company is buying Smithfield Foods for $4.7 billion. So now your favorite ham or bacon will be coming from China maybe not right away, but the way that country and its companies work are familiar. You remember, defective baby cribs, lead in the paint, contaminated baby-food.
       So from now on you'll want to check to see if that Christmas ham really does glow in the dark, just like Rudolph. It may be unfair to characterize Smithfield as becoming unfit. The Company CEO claims nothing will change. That it will be a boon to American farmers, industry, stakeholders, and, I suppose, every living creature on earth.
       The thing is though, China doesn't have a sterling track record, in my opinion. They have figured a way to get rid of chemicals, lead, and other pollutants by introducing these things into products they then export to America. Why should we expect a different outcome in this case?
       It's not that I dislike the Chinese people. I know a very few Chinese people, but none are still resident citizens of China. They're all nice people, but as is the case with most countries, it's not the people that are the problem, it's the governments. Hey, even our own government can be trying at times. But it's hard for me to trust a country that's tried to screw us as many times as China has. I'm surprised they didn't just try to steal the company's intellectual properties and use a similar name to market their own ham.
       I guess there just isn't much intellectual property to putting two pigs together and standing back. After all, pigs do naturally procreate. Maybe they couldn't figure out how to get enough bacon on a container ship. If they start using a 3-D printer to make sausage, count me out.