Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Food Rationing

The New York Sun reports Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing.
And overseas there is rioting in many countries. What do you expect when you start taking major parts of your food supply and turn it into fuel, rather than drilling for oil in Anwar and off shore in the Pacific and the Gulf. Convert corn to ethanol, the price of corn goes up because of the shortage, that raises the price of meat, etc.
Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

Gaius blogged What you have right now are the seeds of a panic being sown. This can be seen on a smaller scale when a bad winter storm is predicted and locals strip the store shelves of bread and milk. But when it is on a global scale, everything is suddenly in short supply as people begin to panic and hoard all they can afford to buy - making the situation even worse. Short supplies rapidly become no supplies. If the US does put on export controls, all hell is going to bust loose on world markets.

Bob McCarty blogged I began researching the issues of food supplies and shortages further. While I found several articles offering glimpses into the growing worldwide food crisis, only one pointed to the root cause: The myth of man-made global warming.

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