food... the new oil.
Posted on 04/24/2008 7:01:53 PM PDT by paulat
I don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.
No, this is not a drill.
You've seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they're a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.
Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.
"Load up the pantry," says Manu Daftary, one of Wall Street's top investors and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund. "I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn't going to happen here. But I don't know how the food companies can absorb higher costs." (Full disclosure: I am an investor in Quaker Strategic)
Stocking up on food may not replace your long-term investments, but it may make a sensible home for some of your shorter-term cash. Do the math. If you keep your standby cash in a money-market fund you'll be lucky to get a 2.5% interest rate. Even the best one-year certificate of deposit you can find is only going to pay you about 4.1%, according to Bankrate.com. And those yields are before tax.
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(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Did farmers stop growing the stuff while I was out?
It sounds pretty stupid but food may have a longer shelf life and be a better investment than technology. There are quite a few food stuffs that have a longer shelf life than DVD-HD had product life.
No, but the dollar has fallen almost by half compared to other currencies.
That means your farmer is going to sell his crop to foreigners for more money.
It’s a world market now, and the dollar is no longer the high card.
Stupid!
All I know is that it worked for me with toilet paper, LOL!!! Bought 6 months worth and it paid off handsomely!
(There are so many jokes here, but it’s true....)
You could have been wiped out.
FAMINE ON THE HORIZON, CLEAN OUT THE SHELVES. This can be taken the wrong way and it will cause real panic buying. Yeah, like everything else food will cost more. When was the last time you saw 5 lbs of potatoes for a quarter? There is no car shortage, yet when potatoes were 25cents for 5 pounds, a new car cost $1500. Do we have enough room in our attics and cellars to make a difference?
Where are all the Freepers who a year or two ago were saying the falling dollar was a Good Thing?
/mark
That means your farmer is going to sell his crop to foreigners for more money.
It’s a world market now, and the dollar is no longer the high card.
Well, gee, last I heard there's some mighty big poppy fields over there in Afghanistan. Maybe they could be put to a better use, now that demand is up for other crops.
No, the just switched to corn to glean the most from their crops … bio-fuels, don’t cha know. ;-)
Probably the same place the dummies who said we were all doomed are.
If anybody here makes their own bread and wants to buy some wheat,I’ll sell them all they want at the cash price quoted at CBOT.
Of course, if market forces do their thing, the drive-bys will be writing stories about how Mr. Green Jeans can't make enough money to send his kids to Harvard, and, as a result, their lives are ruined. Clinging to their guns and their Bibles, that sort of thing. Shameful.
Enough have stopped growing several crops, wheat for one, so they can cash in on the corn ethanol subsidies.
food... the new oil.
The Greenies thought that adding ethanol to gasoline would be more “Earth friendly.” So corn, a perfectly good food, is converted to alcohol because it is “renewable” and burned for fuel. Problem is, the corn crop is now going into your fuel tank. The same is true with wheat which can also be used to create fuel. Corn meal makes perfectly good bread as does potatoes. Now, bread prices are going up.
The price of rice was so low that some countries failed to plant it. Chief among them was the Philippines and Australia. Now, civil unrest and a huge drought have decimated this crop so that even WalMart capped the amount you can buy.
The fact is, if Global cooling is happening, expect Canada’s growing season to be vastly cut back because their growing season will shorten due to cooler climate. The US is maxing its output and the further south you go, the poorer the soil.
Food is a problem worldwide. However, it has to do with idiocy intervening in the World’s bread basket, water supply games and political games about being paid not to grow things.
Man and Society in Calamity by Pitirim A. Sorokin
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