We, and the TBAC, previously made clear [5]there is a massive shortage of high-quality collateral - the stuff that forms the backbone of modern monetary practice- some $11 trillion to be exact , as the insolvent world encumbers every possible asset that is not nailed down with more and more and more debt. However, we didn't realize that the asset shortage has also spread to food. As it turns out, Malthus may have been right after all. But fear not: the UN has a modest proposal how to resolve this particular asset shortage: Eat Moar Insects, at least according to the FAO's latest report: "Edible insects Future prospects for food and feed security [6]."
BBC explains [7]:
Eating more insects could help fight world hunger, according to a new UN report.
The report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that eating insects could help boost nutrition and reduce pollution.
It notes than over 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects.
However it admits that "consumer disgust" remains a large barrier in many Western countries.
Well, that's where central banks come in: after all the whole point of central-planning is that a few Princeton, Harvard or MIT professors think they can change wholesale human behavior using a few simple stimuli here and there. And if they can succeed in getting Joe Sixpack (or Johnny 5) to buy AMZN at a N/M forward multiple believing it is cheap, then eating insects will be the least of our worries before all this is said and done.
Wasps, beetles and other insects are currently "underutilised" as food for people and livestock, the report says. Insect farming is "one of the many ways to address food and feed security".
"Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly, and they have high growth and feed conversion rates and a low environmental footprint," according to the report.
The authors point out that insects are nutritious, with high protein, fat and mineral content.
They are "particularly important as a food supplement for undernourished children".
Insects are also "extremely efficient" in converting feed into edible meat. Crickets, for example, need 12 times less feed than cattle to produce the same amount of protein, according to the report.
More brilliance: "raise the status of insects"
The report suggests that the food industry could help in "raising the
status of insects" by including them in new recipes and adding them to
restaurant menus.
It goes on to note that in some places, certain insects are considered delicacies.
For example some caterpillars in southern Africa are seen as luxuries and command high prices.
Most edible insects are gathered in forests and serve niche markets, the report states.
And so on.
But before all our restauranteur readers scramble to the be the first to trademark the McMantis value meal, we are confident the golden arches is already one step ahead, and is already defining the core concept of its brand new "1 cent" value menu.
And since the convergence of events between 18th century France and the current global situation is becoming too close for comfort, we can now predict that at some point soon, a member of the New Normal aristocracy will announce: "Let them eat insects."