You don’t have to be a libertarian to be amazed at the way the government’s many tentacles often work at cross-purposes. The Wall Street Journal reports today on the U.S. milk industry:

Federal regulators are investigating allegations that the nation’s largest dairy cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, has manipulated milk and cheese prices … the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is looking into whether DFA sought to drive up the price of milk.…

Manipulating milk and cheese prices! Driving up prices! It’s a good thing that we have the government to help protect us from such abuses.

Oh, wait a minute. The federal Department of Agriculture runs an extensive array of marketing orders, import controls, and other programs to squelch dairy competition and keep prices artifically high.