UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
 

So, is this what the headlines are going to start to look like?

AP
UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
Monday April 14, 2:10 pm ET
bsz-cc, By EDITH M. LEDERER <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="4"><tbody><tr><td height="4">
</td></tr></tbody></table>UN Chief: Food Crisis Has Reached Emergency Proportions, Threatens Fight Against Poverty

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A rapidly escalating global food crisis has reached emergency proportions and threatens to wipe out seven years of progress in the fight against poverty, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Monday.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080414/un_food_and_poverty.html

Re: UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
 

AP
Food Costs Rising Fastest in 17 Years
Monday April 14, 4:10 pm ET
By Ellen Simon, AP Business Writer <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="4"><tbody><tr><td height="4">
</td></tr></tbody></table>Food Costs Rising at Fast Clip, Squeezing Poor, Forcing Food Vendors to Explain Higher Prices
NEW YORK (AP) -- Steve Tarpin can bake a graham cracker crust in his sleep, but explaining why the price for his Key lime pies went from $20 to $25 required mastering a thornier topic: global economics.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080414/inflation_squeeze.html

Re: UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
 

So, a few hundred BILLION dollars are printed up each week and distributed worldwide and People act surprised that prices have now risen?
Did somebody sleep through economics class?
Why would anyone expect price stability during a prolonged period of monetary inflation?

Re: UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
 

My question for the UN chief, or anyone at all for that matter, would be: Is there actually a food crisis? Or is there really a monetary crisis? Is the human race actually short foodstuffs at this point? Or is it more that speculators are hoarding such commodities knowing that they will fetch more in trade next year than now? Because the currency is devaluing, and holding foodstuffs is an ultimate flight to safety when it is expected that paper instruments will burn? We all know this-it's GIM 101.

Not to blame the speculators, of course (will leave that to the MSM; it's starting already). Just curious about whether this dizzy planet is finally (all of a sudden) at its carrying capacity, or whether it's just that the pigmen have engineered (yet another) monetary disease that is causing starvation in the midst of plenty.

I have my suspicions, of course. But does anybody have some facts? Are the grain stores much more than seasonally low? Have the harvests been horrific? Did we turn it *ALL* into bio-fuel??! Or would people simply rather hold XX kilo of rice than on Y USD?

Re: UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
 

The food price crisis is more a problem of food shortage, than a problem of fiat currency abundance.

Rice price more than doubled in just a few weeks. I don't think they were able to print double the amount of paper money in the whole world in just a few months.

People all over the world complain about the food price and hope that the price stay below the level they can afford. What they don't understand is if there is not enough food for every one, then that means SOME ONE, among the poors, must go hungry. Because there is not enough food for every one.

How is printing and distributing more money to the poor going to solve the food shortage problem?

We are at the beginning of a MAJOR Malthus Catastrophe

Re: UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
 

Perhaps the more important question is, who actually gets those freshly printed dollars first?

Re: UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
 

I read a bunch of food stories yesterday. Kinda scary. Here is one from today on wholesale prices.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080415/...W.DSoVEEis0NUE

Couple more.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080415/...cVgtIFwrxm.3QA

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080415...n_080415115824

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080415...t_080415023547

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080415...y_080415010644
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080415...y_080415090458

Re: UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
 

See now we don't talk about food inflation and it cause but about food emergency nice spin ...:rant:

Re: UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
 

Quoted "Or would people simply rather hold XX kilo of rice than on Y USD"
I think you got it right there. When the top has lost control of the currency, they will use FOOD as a weapon.

Re: UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
 

Whenever someone uses the word "crisis" hold on to your wallet because Big Daddy Government is about to reach for it.