Bev was nearing the end of his financial rope while the USDA dillydallied on the approvals he needed to open. Yet when he’d finally secured the necessary permits, hired a crew, and begun killing animals, the USDA abruptly pulled its inspector, effectively shutting him down. They explained that Bev wasn’t processing enough animals fast enough to justify the inspector’s time—in other words, he wasn’t sufficiently industrial, which of course was precisely the point of the whole venture. I realized Joel had wanted me to see Bev’s predicament as proof of his contention that the government is
...more
