Big Government Cheese | Planet Money | NPR

There is an argument that our country has to be able to produce its own food because if our farmers go out of business and we become reliant on other countries for food, then that is a kind of national security risk.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter made a single campaign promise that snowballed into a longstanding cultural phenomenon– government cheese. It shows up in comedy sketches, songs, even a cooking show by Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg.

So what is government cheese? And how did the U.S. government end up buying two pounds of cheese for every American?

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[Mullet-ZubazPants]

If it had been Nixon instead of Reagan we'd be calling it "Dick Cheese" instead of "Gov't Cheese"

[deejaydubla]

I know everybody says this, but it is incredibly bizarre seeing NPR personalities, whose disembodied voices are so very familiar, speaking on camera for the first time.

[NIGHTOWL-jfzt]

1.4 Billion pounds of Cheese. I'm constipated just watching this video!

Seriously: When I was a kid we would get big bricks of surplus Government cheese from Food pantries for needy families. We would get so much, it was running from our ears. Some people will have something to say about this but, that was the best for Grilled cheese sandwiches and Mac and cheese. If you didn't get this cheese, you didn't know what it was like to be poor. There was also Government surplus canned pulled Pork. I remember it fondly!! To this day, I would still be happy to have it!

[ranchero]

Need a Government Cheese substitute? Try Wal Mart's Great Value Medium Cheddar Cheese In 2 lb unsliced bricks 🧀

[danielqcallahan]

I remember our family's getting government cheese (and bread, and peanut butter) when I was a kid. It was really some of the best cheese ever! It has been an ongoing quest in our family to find cheese on par with government cheese. That said, nostalgia is a powerful flavoring agent.

[kimchi]

Just watched a guy unbox this cheese. It’s still available.

[seanharrington]

Love the easter egg of Carter workshopping the crisis of confidence / malaise speech on his desk.

[douglasmiller]

All the ration chefs in the 101st used to stock up on the government cheesese. We were all supposed to be on a diet but two, three, some time four egg omelette for breakfast and at least two kiof cheese at every meal.

[adamhoros]

This is such a great video to teach price ceilings with. Please never take this down.

[idrissamorehouse]

A) the production design on this was stupendous!! B) i would like to know the economic SPECIAL INTEREST side of the story ( im sure he didnt just randomly CHOOSE milk as an industry to subsidize :)

[madjoker]

This is some quality content! I grew-up knowing about government cheese but never thought to enquirer about it's origins. By the time I was of age to be interested, it was no longer a term in the collective lexicon and it remained absent in my mind. Thanks NPR!

[FrostyBud]

Too Bad governement doenst stay out of it and the consumers and farmers work the price out together.

[gqkev]

Look at me watching this cause it’s about to happen again

[thedollbabys]

I gave this a thumbs up for how cheesy their cheese puns were. So bad it deserves it for effort lol

[mwambak]

i came from jake tran to get more detailed information about this surplus. He left out so many key points to be fair.

[pinpoint]

This is way too well produced. Thank you very much for this and it's great to see all these cool people having fun.

[phucthegamer]

i have a question that how BOB doesn t have diabete yet

[wbm]

Here's yet another example why congress must defund NPR.

[GoogleUser-krse]

DGAS about all that.. Best cheese I ever had.. Don't remember how long I last had some.. Dam this channel.. I don't even know how this popped up.. Anybody got cheese? I'll give you a dollar..

[dondiego]

Actually there's a few other videos on YouTube that are way better than this one on government cheese. Expected better from npr