Posted on 12/19/2012 6:24:05 AM PST by blam
Watch: “The Global Food Crisis You Need To Prepare For Is Now Imminent”
Mac Slavo
December 19th, 2012
Grocery stores may still be stocked with food and most Americans are still able to keep their family’s fed, but with 50 million Americans requiring government assistance to do so and prices on a seemingly never ending rise, how long will it be before the situation becomes unmanageable?
The global food crisis you need to prepare for is now imminent.
For the past six years the world has consumed more food than it has produced. As a result, global food reserves are at the lowest level since 1974, when the world had 4 billion people. Today we have 7 billion.
Like a person living paycheck-to-paycheck, the world is now living year-to-year when it comes to food supplies.
According to the U.N., world grain reserves are so dangerously low that severe weather in the U.S. or other food exporting countries could trigger a major hunger crisis next year. The U.N. also warns that supplies are so tight and reserves are so low that we literally have no room for an unexpected event in 2013.
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We are already seeing prices rise significantly this year, with corn rising 31%, soy beans rising 28%, and red meat rising 20%.
In the west higher food prices are a manageable burden for now.
Americans spend about 10% of their after tax incomes on food… But in the developing world some households are spending up to 50% of their income on food, which is usually the basic essentials like bread.
An increase in food prices can mean riots, revolutions and chaos.
Video excerpts via PeakResources.org
(click to the site to see the video)
Watch: The Global Food Crisis & Bernanke’s Recipe for Disaster: Three Major Disasters That Could Lead to a Food Crisis Around the World
Any number of disasters, natural or man-made, can cause food prices to skyrocket to such levels that the most basic essentials like corn, rice, wheat, and soy beans become almost impossible to acquire for the majority of the population.
Another prolonged drought, a war with Iran that restricts the flow of oil, or a rapid collapse in the US dollar’s purchasing power could all lead to unprecedented worldwide pressure almost immediately.
We’ve seen what happens in countries where the populace is forced to spend 50% or more of their earned income on food. Despite how the media portrays it, the riots we’ve seen in the middle east, Greece and Spain have been largely fueled by cost increases in food and the inability of individuals to provide the basic essentials for their families.
Americans have been, for the most part, immune from these pressures thus far. But the social safety nets are very quickly becoming overburdened and prices at grocery stores are rising consistently and without pause.
With the consumer economy coming to a standstill, continued central bank monetary easing, job losses and wage reductions, and the urbanization of millions of people, it is only a matter of time before Americans are forced to spend 50% or more of their paychecks just to stay alive.
When that happens, look out, because what comes next is something that, up until now, we’ve only experienced on television feeds from the comfort of our living room couches.
I'm sure that when Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman is done talking about why the federal debt and deficit are actually good for the country, he'll explain why you're wrong. Your statement is no doubt, at least to him, as absurd as saying that federal subsidies for college tuition will cause tuition to rise much faster than inflation. What happens to the intersection point on a supply and demand curve when purchases are subsidized does not (to modern economists) reflect real-world changes in supply, demand, and prices.
Had you said "riots" or "insurrections," I would agree, but I can't think of any war being fought because of food shortages. Wars are fought over "power" and "control of land mass and the subjects who occupy it." Except for the Islamic followers. They fight for their Allah.
That’s why I keep praying for snow, even though most folks around here are praying for no snow.
I’ve noticed that the amount of snow in winter tends to indicate the amount of rain we’ll get the following summer. Thus, the winter we had 100+inches of heavy, wet snow was followed by a summer of floods, and it was so rainy that people were surfing down the sidewalks in some places. Last winter we had very little snow, with some areas going weeks at a time without any. As expected, we then had record droughts, with some places going weeks at a time between rainfalls.
19 inches predicted from this next storm. Hurray for snow!
Preppers ping.
The prices of the goods that I purchase on a weekly basis have gone up approximately 30% on average since 2009. Some of the must have items like peanut butter have gone up even more. It is up 125% over the same time period.
Fortunately, In late 2008, I backed up the truck, and loaded up on all the favorites up to and sometimes a little more than the expiration date for every sale. When I finished off 1 item, I would purchase 1 for replacement, and 1 for increasing the amount in the pantry.
That and the garden I started has allowed me to so far continue with the same meals with out any increase in my grocery budget.
I am thinking that I need to plant some peanuts this spring, It’s supposed to be easy to make peanut butter.
Maybe we will all be better off once the world ends on Friday.
Geesh, who ain’t sick of this crap?
Want to turn a large fortune into a small one?
Bet against the American farmer being able to over-produce any given commodity!
Food is power.”riots” or “insurrections,” caused by lack of food usually lead to war either in an effort to fill the bellies or in an effort to blame the empty bellies on others.
Do you have a link on the winter wheat? Based on that map, it seems stupid to have the EPA demanding more ethanol in gasoline (I won’t even get into the risk on engines that aren’t built to handle the increased mixture). If the barge traffic is affected this coming year, I’ll bet Warren Buffett is poised to make a fortune on his railroads shipping stuff.
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