More imported beef was supposed to cut burger prices. Farm Bureau checked 41 stores: down about 2%, while ranchers lost $300 to $400 a head.

Here's a lesson from the meat case. A presidential proclamation temporarily expanded the lower-tariff quota for lean beef trimmings by roughly 660 million pounds starting Sept. 1, and it encouraged grocers to sell the beef at a 25% discount. The American Farm Bureau Federation went shopping to see if it worked, Capital Press reports. It followed daily ground beef prices for three weeks at 41 chain supermarkets and independent grocers in 22 states. The average price went from $7.29 a pound on Sept. 2 to $7.13 on Sept. 23, about 2%. Prices didn't budge at roughly 75% of the stores. Seven stores ended lower, only three reached the 25% mark, and prices rose at stores in four cities. Meanwhile, the Farm Bureau says cattle prices are $300 to $400 lower per head than two months ago. "The evidence is clear; the proclamation should be rolled back," economists Bernt Nelson and Faith Parum wrote. Reps. Zach Nunn, an Iowa Republican, and Gabe Vasquez, a New Mexico Democrat, have introduced a bill to suspend it. Fair warning: this is the Farm Bureau's own survey, and the proclamation lets the president reconsider if relief doesn't show up. Store-owner math: the shelf price barely moved, but the rancher's check did. Pay the folks who raise cattle less, and fewer of them raise cattle. That's how a shortage lasts another year. Markets fix shortages when you let the price do its job.