> [Urner Barry] also collects bids that egg producers make for each other’s surplus inventory on an exchange called Egg Clearinghouse, Inc. [It] takes in those bids even before they lead to any sale, as a signal of demand.

> they had the ability to create the illusion of [consumer demand] through bids on the surplus exchange for purchases they had no intent of completing

This seems like a system tailor-made for collision. It seems like the consumer protection agency should force changes. Too bad they've been made toothless.

Yes, non-binding bids that are not actual sales should not signal anything.

It's a system that is vulnerable to fraud, which is why it's good to have regulators who go after fraudulent actors.

It's a perfectly fine system if the egg producers are using it genuinely, it's only a problem when they start submitting fraudulent bids to accomplish illegal market manipulation.

> This seems like a system tailor-made for collision. It seems like the consumer protection agency should force changes. Too bad they've been made toothless.

Elections have consequences. This is one of them.