What's going on with food? Rice price has skyrocketed around the world, leading to riots in third world countries like Bangladesh, Haiti, Egypt, and the Philippines. Two large warehouse chains in the US (Costco and Sam's Club) have gone so far as to put a quota on how many bags of rice and flours you can buy.
Overall, the price of grocery has jumped tremendously (if you're the grocery shopper of the family, then you'd know what I'm talking about):
Many analysts expect consumers to keep paying more for food. Wholesale food prices, an indicator of where supermarket prices are headed, rose last month at the fastest rate since 2003, with egg prices jumping 60 percent from a year ago, pasta products 30 percent, and fruits and vegetables 20 percent, according to the Labor Department.
The culprit? The skyrocketing price of oil (obvious) and corn (now not a lot of people actually know about it):
Several factors contribute to higher food prices, analysts say, but none more than record prices for oil, which last week closed above $105 a barrel. Oil is not only driving up production and transportation costs, but also adding to demand for corn and soybeans, used to make alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.
As a result, corn prices have more than doubled in commodity markets over two years, and soybeans nearly tripled, according to DTN, a commodities analysis firm in Omaha. Meanwhile, with poor harvests in major wheat-producing regions, wheat prices have more than tripled.
These crops have a profound impact on food prices because they form foundations for many products, including oils, sweeteners, and flour. Corn, for example, is a key ingredient in livestock feed. When the price of corn rises, so does the price of feed, and ultimately, so do the prices of meat, poultry, and eggs.
Robert Gavin of The Boston Globe has more: Link
*sigh*
The problem is that the government is already interfering in food prices, on behalf of farmers. In America, there is a legally mandated price floor for milk, and corn/grain farmers get money from the government.
It's all part of the big oil company plans, mock alternative fuel source and if it doesn't work just make things a lot more harder for them using a lot of money and corrupt politicians.
They could have planned things better but they didn't because then they would have trouble selling oil to the world.
It is in Chicago, but not by much. $4.29 a gallon for milk. $4.08 for a gallon of gas.
Farmers who used to grow wheat or rice or corn for food/feed now grow corn for making ethanol, exclusively.
People will now starve, worldwide, just so the farmers can make maximum profit, because they haven't been doing too well, financially. It is not the farmers fault.
Meanwhile, the oil companies will continue to make outrageous profits.
Keep your ears to the wind, a worldwide hunger crisis is coming, just so people do not have to depend on foreign oil.
Wait for it.
Normally, this stuff is probably thrown away or at most donated to charities. Local liquidation stores buy it for pennies on the dollar, and sell it cheap. You can walk away with a full grocery cart for around $60. I've yet to run into any problems with food being spoiled or bad. It's probably the best way people in this economically-depressed area can get more for their grocery money.
There's no way anyone with a lower-to-middle class income can buy groceries, clothing, or other items at retail prices anymore. That's why we watch for sales and shop at the discount, surplus, and thrift stores such as Salvation Army, Goodwill, Big Lots, etc. There's always Farmers' Markets as well.
The lack of a comprehensive energy policy here in the U.S. (thanks be to democrats and republicans alike) is the real problem. If we could strike a balance between developing and refining our own natural resources as well as create incentives for alternative energies thru the free market (not snake oil, like corn derived ethanol.)
If the politicians would just get out of the way ... sigh... Seems to be a recurring theme.
This time were starving the rest of the world in the name of heading off global warming.
Since when has it been the responsibility of the US toi feed people in Africa? If Africans ended their tribal wars they'd be able to feed themselves.
Has anyone else decided to stock up? What are your thoughts on doing so?
Why do our men and women have to die for the whims of the damned politicians?
We assume responsibility for stuff that we had nothing to do with... Does the name Viet Nam ring a bell?
Let's take care of our own people, before we mess with other countries.
The feeling is still there, I guess I could have phrased it better...
When the U.S. artificially inflates the price of food by consuming more than the current market can reasonably supply as well as offering subsidies to domestic producers, which further inflates the cost of food... than yes, we are starving other nations. No country is an island. trade is a basic function between nations as well as price indexing. The sophomoric view of these matters by some is really sad.
I agree that Africa as a whole needs to stop warring, but it's much harder than you make it out to be. When there are people in this world committing systematic genocide while the rest of the world turns a blind eye, it tends to complicate your one line view. It's very easy to turn food into a weapon when you control the government.
And while Africa has its problems, those problems are not of America's making. If any African government was serious about feeding its own people, it could after all prohibit food exports.
>>> Yes, it's the oil -- but because we love it. <<<
We're all for community/urban design, but we'd like to keep our beautiful home in the hills/suburbs/wherever far from work, and we don't mind the commute.
We're all for public transpo, as long as we can keep our cars ...and use them.
We'll get that hybrid vehicle, when the cost comes down to the average price for the class of car.
We'll push for tougher automotive standards of efficiency, as soon as the referendum comes up in my town.
We're all for "solar"*, and we'll make our houses "solar" as soon as it becomes affordable. Now, what's on TV? (My big plasma one.) [* or other renewable energy source apparati.]
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All our activity props up this Magnificent Economy, which provides us with a Glorious Military, with which to spread Democracy (is that all?); provides us with the means to pursue the Life of Success that we desire, with all its trappings.
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To maintain the environment and kick the foreign-oil monkey off our backs (or even the domestic one, for that matter), WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIVING LIKE THE AMERICAN NATIVES...
..."But they didn't have TV." And what a boon that's been for us. Accurate transmission of information controlled by the people and thoughtful, intelligent entertainment aimed at enlightenment of the people. Oops. [and Movies, DVDs, CDs, etc.]
..."But they didn't have antibiotics etc." Yes, because Big Pharmaceutical gives us great meds and none that we don't need. Big Pharma has only our best interests in mind and never develop products simply to sell for profit. Oops.
..."And they were susceptible to the caprices of Nature and could die in large numbers because of drought, blight, disease." We are on the verge of cracking the DNA code and other mysteries of biochemistry to achieve 100+ year lifespans, nevermind what quality of life that may be and what perils of overpopulation that may bring. Just bring us Long Life.
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We, when were Native Somethings, ate what we could hunt or gather; now we eat all that we can make, engineer, coerce into vigorous bloom. Now we are never satisfied with what we have, or even what we will have tomorrow. We buy and sell Futures, for goodness sake.
And now we're EATING IT, the Fruit of all our Labor. At increasing cost. Recall that the economists often define cost beyond price: social cost.
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WE'VE THOUGHT THIS (chemistry, medicine, engineering and technology, economic policy...) ALL THE WAY THROUGH. We know what we're doing, for now and for generations to come.
Oops.
Organic food is not better for you than conventionally-produced food and is worse for farmers and the environment. The reason it costs more is because of the increased cost of fertilizers (they cost more to buy, and the farmer has to buy more of them per acre), but also because it's such a big fad and the producers can get away with the higher price tag. Much of the world is starving, and the West is actually finding ways of deliberately inflating the price of food by producing it 'organically'. It's absurd, and it's obscene.
The solution relates to the fact that it takes ten times the land to feed a typical meat-eater compared to a vegetarian. It also takes 100 times the water to produce meat compared to vegetables and grains.
If people quit killing animals for food, there would be more than enough agricultural land to feed us and to provide for our biofuel energy needs. Many of our other environmental problems would be greatly reduced or solved as well by the simple act of choosing vegetarian meals.
The answer, which will take many years of complaining, lobbying, and possibly riots, is to get off of oil as much as possible. A regional train network instead of repaving the interstates every year would be step one.
http://wwwoqueeisso.blogspot.com/
Well, this afternoon I'm going to do a bit more planting in my "organic" garden... which has cost me nothing this year other than about $30 for seeds and a few weekends worth of work.
Anyway, find some local farms near where you live. You may still be paying more than at the supermarket, even with the recent price increases, but you will be contributing to longer term stability and local economic health.