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Food Riots 2011
Food Riots 2011
Courtesy of Michael Snyder at Economic Collapse
The stunningly violent food riots in Tunisia and Algeria show just how quickly things can change. Just a few months ago, these two northern Africa nations were considered to be very stable, very peaceful and without any major problems. But now protesters are openly squaring off with police in the streets. Many of the protesters are throwing "fire bombs" or are shooting fireworks at the authorities, and the police are responding with a tremendous amount of violence themselves. In Algeria, several protesters have been killed by police and several others have actually set themselves on fire to protest the economic conditions. In Tunisia, more than 100 people have been killed and the president of that country actually had to flee for his life. But on a global scale, food shortages have not even gotten that bad yet. Yes, food prices are starting to go up and food supplies are a little bit tighter right now, but much worse times than these are coming. So what in the world are the cities of the world going to look like when we have a very serious food shortage?
Just as we saw during the food riots of 2008, when people get to the point where they can't even feed themselves anymore, they tend to lose it. In the video posted below, you can really feel the desperation of these young Algerians as they riot in the streets....
This next video is of the food riots in Tunisia. You will not want to let any young children watch this video. In fact, if watching police beat and smash protesters laying on the ground upsets you, then you might not want to watch this video either. The massive food riots that have erupted in Tunisia have left many city streets looking like war zones and at this point it is being reported that the violence has left over 100 people dead. The president of Tunisia has left the country because of the rioting, and an interim president has been sworn in. It is hoped that this will help restore order. This video is absolutely stunning....
You see, the truth is that it is not just in the United States that people are becoming angry at government. All over the world, frustration is boiling over. But unlike the United States, where food is still very plentiful, in many areas of the world it is the deteriorating economic conditions that are sparking many of these riots.
According to the FAO, the global price of food hit a new record high in December. For most Americans and Europeans, a rise in the price of food is just an inconvenience. But in many areas of the world, even a relatively small rise in the price of food can mean that the survival of millions is suddenly threatened.
Global authorities are concerned that these food riots might start spreading - especially if the extremely harsh weather all over the globe continues to damage crops.
In fact, there are some signs that economic unrest is already beginning to spread....
*In the nation of Jordan, peaceful demonstrations were held in several locations around the country on Friday to protest rising food prices.
*In Libya, protests about the late completion of government subsidized housing entered their third day on Sunday. Reportedly, hundreds of uncompleted units have been taken over by protesters and so far the police are not taking action to evict them. There is also growing concern that the food riots in neighboring Tunisia will soon pour over into Libya.
*Economic protests also been reported recently in Mozambique, Morocco and Chile.
Sadly, the desperate economic conditions that are sparking these food riots did not develop overnight. Rather, they have been building for decades. The truth is that the new "global economy" is designed to funnel more and more of the wealth of the world into the hands of the wealthiest 0.001% of the global population. Everyone else is left to fight with one another to divide up a pie that is increasingly shrinking.
Just consider the following five facts....
#1 Approximately 1 billion people throughout the world go to bed hungry every single night.
#2 Approximately 28 percent of all children in developing countries are considered to be underweight or have had their growth stunted as a result of malnutrition.
#3 Every 3.6 seconds someone starves to death and three-quarters of them are children under the age of 5.
#4 "Least developed countries" spent 9 billion dollars on food imports in 2002. By 2008, that number had risen to 23 billion dollars.
#5 A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research discovered that the bottom half of the world population owns approximately 1 percent of all global wealth.
So if things are this bad already, what kind of food riots are we going to see if all of this weird weather continues and global harvests are much lower than anticipated in 2011?
Most Americans have a really hard time even imagining such a thing, but the truth is that we are just one really bad harvest away from mass starvation in many areas of the world.
We are not going to see mass starvation in the United States in 2011, but we could see food prices start to go up significantly. Keep in mind that more than 43 million Americans are already on food stamps. The incredible abundance of food that we have been enjoying for so many decades is not guaranteed to last indefinitely.
Dennis Conley, an agricultural economist at the University of Nebraska, recently told MSNBC that food reserves in the United States are already disturbingly low....
"I haven't seen numbers this low that I can remember in the last 20 or 30 years."
So yes, there are legitimate reasons to be concerned.
The world really is on the verge of a major food crisis, and if global harvests are not significantly better than most analysts are currently projecting, then we are likely to see a lot more food riots around the globe before 2011 is over.
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Exactly.
We should in fact bring scarcity to a whole new level and introduce the gold standard again, which kept medeival Europe so prosperous and peaceful for hundreds of years! There was not one recorded case of famine or food riots, no wars and certainly no unreasonable inequality and millions of people did not emigrate to another continent either.
Wow.
...And I'm sure medieval Europe's conditions had everything to do with the gold standard, and NOTHING to do with the FEUDAL SYSTEM.
You are a perfect used douche chugging arsehole.
And these food riots have, of course, NOTHING to do with US government-mandated production of corn ethanol that drives food prices up. That also is the fault of libertarians, just like their demand to return to gold standard (which would unfund idiotic wars waged by US government). I suggest that No Critical Thought prostrates himself before the goverment who can do not harm and is always right (if democrats are in power).
Of course using less than 10% of the world's crop production in US ethanol projects was the primary factor in driving up global food prices!
A true master of infallible logic you are! Have you ever thought of starting a hedge fund or pursuing an academic career?
Additional interesting takes on corn in our economic and food system makes watching King Corn, a documentary with spoof elements yet still compelling, worth the time. Entertaining, interesting, and some relevant information.
10% of U.S. corn crop is 1.2 Billion bushels!
U.S. corn production dropped 5 percent in 2010 to 12.4 billion bushels. Still, it remained the third-highest output on record.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110112/ap_on_bi_ge/us_crop_report
When world food production is down sharply any further constriction of supply like corn that goes into so many food and feed products has a levering effect on price.
That's a common fallacy: you singled out 'biofuel' as the final component to apply and now you claim that it's the straw that broke the camel's neck. (Even though it was one of the first pieces of straw laid on the camel's back. Remember, biodiesel subsidies were started by the Bush administration.)
How about symmetrically considering all the other factors as well? Increasing populations? Shifting (much larger) consumer demand in growing nations such as China? Weather factors? Speculation? The world financial crisis making the poor even poorer and lowering the amount of money they can pay for food?
Singling out bio-diesel as the only factor is rather disingenuous.
Biofuel is ONE of the factors and is due to government mandates. Besides corn there is crapload of other things like palm oil (used even in UK!!! for power plants), rapeseed etc. And it does not even make sense economically and ecologically other than buying votes in Iowa.
I HAVE an academic career...and reasonably successful..and in exact sciences and not bullshit economics. You can not deny that (1) converting FOOD to fuel will drive up prices (may be not the only reason, but it WILL increase prices), and (2) US government is not the only government that supports food to fuel conversion. Also, using 10% of world crops to burn for fuel is kind of a LOT.
You should consult with your academic friends in the economics department and ask them how the farmers fared with their labor tied to the rigidity of the gold standard in the late 1800s.
Also, ask your economic friends why Adam Smith thought the gold standard was ridiculous.
I know how they fare now and with exception of large multinationals who receive gigantic taxpayer subsidies they are not doing too fantastic. It would be interesting to know what was the average farm size/owner under the gold standard and now. And how much subsidies from the "always right" government the family farmers receive vs. multinationals.
About economics dept - much more than in exact sciences their predictive abilities have been influenced by ideology thus questioing why should I consult them...and by the way I like gold standard only because it would not allow clandestine funding of war which the current system allows. I do not particularly care about anything else why gold standard should be introduced. Whatever stops taxpayer-subsidized murder looks good for me.
Corn, not crop.
Of world crops, biofuel is less than 1%.
As a solution to increasing food demand we need the gold standard!
That way all countries that have amassed gold already are at a perpetual advantage: all newcomers will find it more and more expensive to hoard gold. Future generations will find it exponentially harder to 'get a slice of the gold pie', as the supply of gold is very limited.
Get gold early on and enjoy deflation work in favor of you and rip off the rest of humanity for generations to come - what a cool rent-seeking concept!
The good news is that there's a few early trials already of libertarian-run countries that have managed to build civilization with no or almost no central government and no taxes. The role models are Somalia and Afghanistan and they are both on the gold standard as well. (Lacking so-called 'fiat' money. They have no central bank worth of mention either, fortunately.)
If you want the US to join this noble libertarian experiment then vote for Ron Paul!