Posted on 04/02/2008 7:36:44 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
The new danger is global inflation -- most worryingly in food prices, but also in prices for commodities, raw materials and products that require petroleum energy, which includes almost everything. Prices for these goods have been skyrocketing in international markets -- at the same time the Federal Reserve and other central banks have been hosing the world with new money in their efforts to avoid a financial crisis.
That's an explosive mixture. It risks a kind of inflation that would trigger panic buying, hoarding and fears of mass political protest. Actually, this is already happening in Asia.
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World Bank President Robert Zoellick rang the alarm bell in a speech yesterday. He noted that since 2005, the prices of staples have risen 80 percent. The real price of rice rose to a 19-year high last month, he said, while the real price of wheat hit a 28-year high.
Zoellick warned that this inflation is having political repercussions: "The World Bank Group estimates that 33 countries around the world face potential political and social unrest because of the acute hike in food and energy prices."
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"We cannot accommodate inflation," argues [Richard W. Fisher, the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank and the leading inflation hawk on the Fed's Open Market Committee]. "Once it takes a grip, it changes people's behavior. It's bad for investors, for workers, for savers, for people on fixed incomes."
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"You cannot think in a purely domestic context about the pricing of oil or steel or pulp or shoes or clothing," Fisher said in a speech last month in London. For that reason, he continued, "We cannot, in my opinion, confidently assume that slower U.S. economic growth will quell U.S. inflation and, more important, keep inflationary expectations anchored."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ethanol has driven up the prices of all grain. Wheat and rice work for animal feed as well as corn.
Let them eat cake..while Gore’s Suburban eats corn.
Rice is still cheap by American grocery standards, but then, we don’t eat a lot of it either.
Fried Rice
Ingredients:
1 - 2 green onions, as desired
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
4 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
4 cups cold cooked rice
1 - 2 tablespoons light soy sauce or oyster sauce, as desired
Preparation:
Wash and finely chop the green onion. Lightly beat the eggs with the salt and pepper.
Heat a wok or frying pan and add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the eggs. Cook, stirring, until they are lightly scrambled but not too dry. Remove the eggs and clean out the pan.
Add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the rice. Stir-fry for a few minutes, using chopsticks or a wooden spoon to break it apart. Stir in the soy sauce or oyster sauce as desired.
When the rice is heated through, add the scrambled egg back into the pan. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the green onion. Serve hot.
When you make everything a global commodity, like the “free traders” have done with oil, water, grain, etc., you will have shortages and inflation.
Thank you “free traders”! The whole world order of nation-states( on which our Constitutional government is predicated) is rapidly disintegrating thanks to your falsely named agenda. Global communism will be the answer to every “free trader” created problem.
Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.
* John Adams, Letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts (1798-10-11)
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