Just a short little news item, no great political strategy or philosophy, no pie fights. OK, maybe a little schadenfreude.
I'm betting on a quick resolution to the MN shutdown. Is it due to the financial strain on the state? The suffering of 23,000 laid off state workers? Benefit cuts to the poorest in society?
Nah. Miller Coors has lost their brand license. This means that all Miller and Coors products must be off the shelves. "Imminently." The tea party just bit their Corporate Masters in the tuckus.
How did we get in this situation?
The state's government shutdown, now in its 13th day, will soon force MillerCoors to pull its beer from Minnesota liquor stores, bars and restaurants. A state official says the law requires the company to stop selling products like Coors Light, Miller Lite and Blue Moon imminently because their brand licenses expired.
(snip)
Neville says MillerCoors must remove the beer because they did not renew their brand label registration with the state before the shutdown began. By law, brewers must renew those registrations -- which show the label on each brand of beer -- every three years.
You'd think they'd be on top of something like this. But maybe not... I mean, suppose you slip up and write out the check for the wrong amount, someone just comes back to you and asks you to correct it, right?
The company tried to renew in mid-June, but the process got delayed when they wrote a check for too much money. Green said they sent in a new check, which the state received on June 27, but nonetheless got a letter three days later saying their brand licenses had expired.
Ooops! Talk about unintended consequences...
I think that if we really get to the point where you can't buy a major brewery's beer in MN, there will be pressure for a pretty quick compromise. The Corporate Masters must be Obeyed, after all!
Update - just noticed that bubbanomics had this diary up earlier, and so give credit where credit is due!