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Maps Du Jour: Food Inflation Riots and The Libyan Politics
By EconMatters
The first map is a disturbing illustration of food and inflation riots around the globe in 2011 (updated through Feb. 19) I came across on Google. The second map is actually an infographic from The Economist explaining the politics behind the military action against Libya.
Most of the inflation riots and protests are concentrated in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, but as you can see on the Google map, they are starting to migrate into Europe, as well as China and India.
In the U.S., anemic growth, an ongoing housing depression, high unemployment and two rounds of quantitative easing (QE) probably have laid a pretty solid foundation for a similar riot map if Chairman Bernanke decides to grace us with QE3.
Adding to the food inflation riot is the international military action against Libya. It looks like Muammar Qaddafi's 42-year rule of Libya has finally come to an end. As the rebel put up a $1.7 million bounty on Gaddafi, the mystery of the day is the whereabouts of Gadaffi who's last known to be still in Tripoli.
Regardless, it might take some time to restore Libya to the pre-NATO state, which undoubtedly would give oil speculators plenty of excuse to drive up oil prices touting the Sweet Libyan Crude shortage myth.
(Note - We have problem embedding map codes on zh platform. So, pop over to our site to view the 2 maps if you'd like. Thanks.)
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I once studied anthropology.
Amongst other things I came to notice were these:
For as long as a traditional culture prevails, the population numbers in any given region remain sustainable, e.g. both China and India had sustainable populations, for some 2500 years, until the cultures were destroyed by Western colonialsm.
Australian Aborigines had stable populations for about 40,000 years; whereas the Western implant (I am amongst this) has rendered eveything unsustainable.
You might like to imagine that the Black Death/Plague in Europe decimated the population, but the reverse is true in the long run.
WTF.
As Maggot Scratcher shrilled, "There is no society, only individuals pursuing their own self-interest."
I know why everything is beyond repair.
We are social animals and deny that at our peril, like that idiot Ron Paul does.
All too late now in any case.
Was the sustainability of those civlizations accomplished through heeding our social animality? Or brute force, starvation, and lack of medicine?
Safety in squalor and servitude? RP may be just the man for you!
No.
Which question?
But seriously, 'sustainable' is an admirable goal unfortunately requiring a vastly different standard of living and the agreement (tacit or otherwise) of all parties concerned.
You forget the entropy factor. Populations decline when the wind turns, aka 1400 century.
Never extrapolate too far along 'civilization's' fragile twig. Noah's ark is never far away.
Coming back to current day Libya play : After that General was assassinated at Benghazi, the Council of Resistance disintegrated. Nato took over the war without any interference from locals in this vacuum. That explains why bombing Tripoli became easy and the issue of the war a matter of weeks...Now the tyrant is gone and NO unity exists amongst the local victors. And it will stay that way, local tribal barons will be groomed to keep the local scene as confused and divisive as possible.
So....rinse and wash...Divide and rule will reign supreme, for the prize of Libyan Oil.
So much for freedom of the locals. Look to Gabon, Ivory Coast, and you'll see the future written, spelt out, for NEW libya!
All paid for by the SOvereign funds lying in western banks, now no longer the Q-daffy family treasure chest, last estimate 200 billion USD. And that will pay for reconstruction and the oil stream will give back a NPV of cash streams to the Western Oligarchies and their local surrogates. The people of Libyaaaaa ? : Like all their African compatriots, toast and debt ridden plebes. Move along, game over. Let us now play...this is NOT about tits!
EconMatters is ignorant of the oil supply situation. Read his April post re the "myth" of sweet crude shortage (linked above), it's riddled with errors and way too simplistic.
the fact that we are plunging Libya into yet another American Anarchy zone (Haiti, Egypt, the entire Continent of Europe apparently) makes it surprising oil hasn't busted a move higher. To me everything is feeling toppy right now. I think there is much to be said of ZH bascially pointing to a serious risk of asset prices moving in something other than an upward direction. Clearly treasuries have confirmed "trouble on the table."
When the next H1N1 virus (swine flu) or whatever else pops up people may be compelled to be VACCINATED to stop a pandemic. GWB signed a presidential directive to effectively force everyone to be VACCINATED if the president decides it is needed to stop a pandemic. Dangerous to contemplate what could happen if it is decided everyone needed to take a VACCINATION because of a manufactured crisis or some flu pandemic gets underway.
I've read and heard that a small amount of the H1N1 virus was manufactured with live DNA from a Spanish flu that occurred in the early 1900's. Don't know that it could be proven or if its even true. But, strange things have happened. Such as, within the past few years a number of leading microbiologists have suffered violent deaths and others have had bizarre 'accidental' deaths.
0
What's that saying about things that cannot go on, won't. Well, this can't. So, it won't. Find something more immediate to worry about.
Ah: population explosion. But war is always a cure for that, isn't it. Then there is Fukushima and the GOM thingey which will eventually kills millions or billions. The Bilderbergs, CFR and the arrogant statists all have de-population on the agenda; it seems to be working. If they can take away our guns, we would be in the top ten.
World War Two killed about 50 million in five years, say 10 million per year - so it will take 8 WW2's AT THE SAME TIME just to keep the population of 4 Billion people, assuming a 2% growth rate.
I think we need to do something different.
ap:
Well, actually, au contraire, the worldz population has always increased (even after the Crusades and follow-on wars).
Ya, I'd like to get a list.
- Ned
[ed. spelling]
No, it doesn't seem to be working. But population control will come. Peaceful or violent: we have a choice. Can we make decisions based on scientific data, or will we always go back to religious and cultural arguments? The longer we wait, the narrower the options become.
If you don't believe that population is becoming too high, look at the numbers again. The growth rate is explosive, crazy. These countries are already importing food. That's why they are hurt by inflation. If they were exporting, inflation would be a plus, or at worst a neutral.
What happens if the food exporting countries have a bad crop year? Starvation? That could happen any time, not thirty years from now. How will they buy food when the crude oil income is gone in a few decades? Where is the leadership?
If the Bilderbergs are planning to control population, then they have my support. How can you condemn them for this? The political leadership is doing NOTHING. How much longer do you want to wait? How much more evidence do you need? What is going to happen to crop yields when crude is unavailable? All of the resource problems we now face are mutually reinforcing. We are heading for a tipping point, which will be out of our control. This issue will define our fate, not the abstractions of economists.
In 2005, for the first time in more than 50 years the US became a net importer of food.
Have you seen the food intake of the "average" American? S'no surprise.
Muslim populations are exploding.
Libya:
1950: 1,000,000
2011: 6,500,000
Afghanistan:
1960: 9,600,000
2009: 30,000,000
2050: 82,000,000 projected by Population Census Bureau
Yemen:
1950: 4,300,000
2005: 28,000,000
2050: 60,000,000 projected
Egypt:
1939: 16,500,000
2010: 80,500,000
2050: 177,000,000 projected assuming 2% per year growth
Pakistan:
1950: 39,000,000
2009: 175,000,000
2050: 330,000,000 projected assuming 1.6% per year growth
They are running out of water. They are building on their remaining farmland. They are importing more and more of their food. Their oil revenues will soon begin to decline. Europe and the US will be under tremendous immigration pressure. Where is the Muslim leadership? Do they think they are immune from the laws of nature?
How dare they. Who do they think they are, us?
The U.S. population in 1900 was 76 million. In 1950, it rose to 152 million by 2000 it had reached 282 million.
They are running out of water. They are building on their farmland. They are importing more and more of their food.
The above is also true of the USA:
Your point???
6 or 7 > 2?
Really. Think Darwin. You are giving figures for reproductive success. Cite the numbers for Japanese, Europeans, Americans, etc, and you find reproductive failures. By 2050 the world will look completely different. Countries may freely reproduce themselves at incredible rates knowing full well that liberals and indistrialists in the Western countries will let in all that wish to enter. The United States is expected to grow to 500-600 million by 2050 thanks to unlimited immigration. What is their problem is our problem.
"The United States is expected to grow to 500-600 million by 2050 thanks to unlimited immigration."
@stuck on zero although your summation i wholeheartedly agree with, it will be all of our problem, however i have to take issue with your thanks to illegal immigration statement. heres some info for you
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/births.htm <---american birthrates
http://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/yearbook.shtm <--- legal immigration stats
and although always a debated issue heres some rough info on illegal immigration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_to_the_United_States
in all likelihood you'll ignore the facts and continue to believe whatever idealogue you happen to get your "unlimited immigration" news from. but heres hoping that you're someone who'd rather speak from knowledge rather than regurgitate lies, either way cheers.
Usually, propagandists know the facts. They do not ignore them. They simply do not use them to adjust their perception of reality. They use them as material to be bent to support their biased preset conclusion.
On the bright side, they will have Iranian and North Korean nukes and delivery systems to keep them busy.
Have you ever looked at the global population growth charts over the last two millenia? What exactly happened in the mid to late 1500s that changed everything?
Who exactly is responsible for controlling the size of the herd? Left unchecked ALL (may I say unintelligent, and man is no exception) populations grow to the limit of their food supply.
Bart:
Well, u and Malthus be wrong, but, well, more evidence is needed.
But your comment .ne. coordinated with the facts.
But please continue, because, there are paths beyond your point of view.
- Ned
industrial revolution coupled with an almost boundless supply of "cheap energy" (OIL) ... think of us not as individual human beings, but as bacteria on a petri dish who just struck sugar (energy) paydirt burrowing deep down .. what happens when that sugar runs out?
exponential growth is a bitch ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_growth
let's say for example:
7 billion people now 2011
assuming a 1.1% growth rate
70/1.1=63.63 (log function)
means population (mathematically speaking) should double every 63.63 years
2074 = 14 billion
2137 = 28 billion
2200 = 56 billion
It doesn't take long to see that it just cannot happen that way. Even at a .05% projected growth rate, the population of the earth would be 14 billion in 140 years, which, as we all know, barely registers on a long enough timeline..
Fertility rates are plummeting all over the world though. Will that slow population growth enough?
bonus questions:
what is the habitable land surface of the earth? arable land?
carrying capacity for human population?
etc.
something's got to give. food & water look likely.
then there is the TPTB in play of course ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBNHgG6sSvs
Mother Nature bats last.
Bacteria in a petri box? How inaccurate.
Bacteria have standard needs. Contrary to human beings in this US driven world. Averagering means nothing. Wiping out half a petri box bacteria means something. Wiping out half of humanity might mean nothing (in terms of consumption) Wiping out 1/6 of humanity might mean a lot.
But again, as this points out US citizens and US citizenism as the root of the problem, lets prefer to wipe out starving people to try and solve an overconsumption issue.
Much to loot from people who have nothing. The harsh bit of reality that explains why the US world order is slowly coming to a halt.
Too many US citizens to entitle, not enough Indians to loot. Did not end well the first time this situation occurred.
Here's the really scary part. About 2023 we learn how to construct cheap fusion power stations. Electricity becomes dirt cheap. Liquid fuels are synthesized from CO2 and water. About 2029 we learn how to synthesize proteins and starches from CO2 and sulfur. Food becomes plentiful. Supporting 50-100 billion people on the planet is easily acheived. What kind of existence do we have then? ZPG energy generation could come about in 2060. If we spread to space by mining asteroids we could have a population of 900 trillion by 2200. Think of the cools ramifications. A thousand Aristotles or Diracs would be born every day.
Fusion is still a nice daydream. Cheap fusion even more so. Besides, as soon as energy becomes dirt cheap, the ability to do massive harm to others does as well.
There's no point to taking to the stars if we can't get past our inherent psychological limitations first. It's pleasant to believe that our angst is borne from competition for resources (be they food or energy),
but the truth is likely more bitter still; would we just fight over something else instead?
Does the lack of competition for resources imply a lack of evolutionary pressure and therefore a dearth of Diracs?
I "want to believe", but reality conspires against us at every turn.
"Food" for thought...or should I say, "Will think for food"?
Go forward about a thousand years - freed from any natural limitation, you will now have a sphere of humans expanding at the speed of light, and yet they will still run out of room inside the sphere, year 10.000 or thereabouts. The universe always conspire against exponential growht.
Gail over at TheOilDrum posted this not long ago ...
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8268
Excellent stuff along the same lines.
Regards,
Cooter
thanks, theoildrum usually has great articles. will check it out
Yes, they do...
Allah will take care of them when the food and water run out.
Or, they will simply start killing infidels and take their food and water (while earning their 72 virgins as a bonus).
/sarc
when all of what we are today
is dim dim distant past
a racial memory mostly myth
known to the shaman caste
http://thepeakoilpoet.blogspot.com/2011/08/for-our-sons-and-daughters-to...