Food Riots Skyrocket, World Leaders Have No Solutions

Finance ministers gathered this weekend to grapple with the global financial crisis also struggled with a problem that has plagued the world periodically since before the time of the Pharaohs: food shortages.

Surging commodity prices have pushed up global food prices 83% in the past three years, according to the World Bank -- putting huge stress on some of the world's poorest nations. Even as the ministers met, Haiti's Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis was resigning after a week in which that tiny country's capital was racked by rioting over higher prices for staples like rice and beans.

Rioting in response to soaring food prices recently has broken out in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ethiopia. In Pakistan and Thailand, army troops have been deployed to deter food theft from fields and warehouses. World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned in a recent speech that 33 countries are at risk of social upheaval because of rising food prices. Those could include Indonesia, Yemen, Ghana, Uzbekistan and the Philippines. In countries where buying food requires half to three-quarters of a poor person's income, "there is no margin for survival," he said.

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Comments

[Kman2]

What about the ethanol production for products other than fuel? Should Napa Valley grape growers stop producing their ethanol product (it's called Wine!!) and use that acreage for food? Hipsters would revolt.
I don't think anyone is going to give up their ethanol products called beer, wine, whisky, vodka anytime soon.

[noneIn2008]

Summer 2006 UK Times article:
"the U.K. faces soaring food prices, a shortage of staple foods and declining public health if the country's government forges ahead with plans to promote the use of biofuels. "
"Asian countries set aside their crops to produce biodiesel........ this price increase will have knock-on effects on food, and eventually, pubic health"
"could be causing deforestation in South America and Asia, where rain forests are felled to clear land"
"Superficially, it looks politically altruistic for a politician to say we are going to replace dwindling reserves of fossil fuels with renewable biofuels. We are now seeing the prospect of very material deforestation,"

[amanda85]

Hungry people start revolutions.

Watch out global fascists!

[ceasenake]

World population is too high. There will be famine, epidemics and starvation until the population comes back under control.

[noneIn2008]

Good Malthusian response. Focus on letting those die in developing countries.

[mmckinl]

Peak Oil is here ....

The great boom in the world's population is all due to cheap oil. Plowing, irrigation, insecticides, fertilizers, transportation and processing all require oil, and lots of it ...

The other factor is of course Big Ag. They control the markets with the production of all those inputs plus the redirection of food to fuel.

Welcome to the world of energy scarcity. Increasing demand with lower production.

[mmckinl]

And the article on the price of oil at $111 a barrel is .... hmmm

Could there be a connection between the price of oil and Airlines going out of business, merging, skimping on maintenance, cramming planes, the world food shortage and gas at $4 a gallon ?

Nah, just a coincidence ...

The Oil Drum ... http://anz.theoildrum.com/node/3837

That's right .... 2007 saw less oil production than 2006 ...

[mmckinl]

OBTW - oil is now at $112 ...

And this while we go deeper into a recession!

[JoeBlough]

Only in a Republican World would we take food from a starving child living in a poor country and put it into our gas tank, just to go to the mall an buy crappy stuff.

[Kman2]

What if all ethanol production was used for food instead of fuel? A logical question right?
But what are you going to do about the other ethanol products besides fuel? Those products are things like..well..... beer, wine, vodka and whisky. People would revolt if Napa Valley wine producers grew grapes for food instead of wine.

[wolf58]

This is what happens when you put food in the gas tank rather than on the table. Another Bush plan that screws everything up.

[MajorKong]

I really don't think ethanol is the main factor driving this. Agriculture is one of the most oil intensive industries. A tremendous amount of oil goes into making fertilizers and pesticides, running farm equipment and transporting the food to market.

[robinhood1]

Didn't Democrats vote to renew and expand the ethanol program a few months ago? It's only a question of time before food riots spread to the US. That's what we get when our politicians in both major parties pander to a few thousand farmers in Iowa. "if there is no bread, let them eat cake."

[studlyguy]

Why are people having kids nowadays ,the world of the furture is going to be nightmare ,why do you want to bring a child into a overpopulated world with the nightmare scenerio happening now can you just imagine in the not so distant future,,the riots over food ,is only the beginning soon it will be water,oil,we're doomed because of overpopulation.

[Chavez08]

That is an excellent point.

The establishment is preparing us with what will come with all of this "Winner Take All" reality TV, 1% winners, 99% losers.

Those with the genetic make-up, grace, intelligence, charisma and natural talent will be living in billion dollar mansions while the future for the rest will be limited to being fodder for economic military conscription: "Fight in the front lines in oil, water wars or starve!" while the Bush family makes billions on their 90,000 acres of farm land Shrub bought (right before pushing alternative fuels).

2018 headlines will read: "indian actress adopts third American baby, lobbies hyper-power China to help end Civil War in U.S."

[LivingStardust]

And thus begins the start of anarchy and revolution on a global scale.

[civilbehavior]

Living Stardust,

And no one could say it more succintly.

About three weeks ago I posted

The wheels are coming off.......

The wheels are coming off.............

The wheels are.....................

This morning I asked my spouse to make sure we have everything we need to survive. Other than a decent tarp and a two burner camp stove we'll be fine but many many others are not. We've planted our garden and have fruit trees and coconuts if need be. Right off our shores they are eating mudcakes for sustenance in Haiti.

I suppose when Bush said "bring it on" he had no idea what that meant. Why he still occupies the Oval office is beyond comprehension.

[LivingStardust]

Now that spring has set in, we have planted here and bought canning supplies as well. Better to have it and not need than need it and not have it, but I do have the distinct impression it will be needed. If not for us, for our NON-BUSHIE family and friends. You Bushies can starve or be eaten by the poor. You broke it, you bought it.

[ErnestineBass]

In the immortal words of BOOOsh, "Bring it on!".

[outnow]

"They're rioting in Africa, they 're starving in Spain...." Ain't globilization grand! Time for me to go on a serious diet! The world is not flat, as Thomas Friedman keeps telling you - it is "vertical" yes, it is about a class struggle against the third world by rich fat multi-nationals. The neocolonialism is not bring prosperity to the third world. The financial crisis world-wide is growing. Our dependence on oil will cause more problems in terms of pollution. Water shortages will also be hitting the entire world. Things are going to get really ugly. Political instability is being seen world-wide. There is no solution for the financial mess and the environmental picture worsens every day. Don't bother having more children without addressing existing problems drastically. Why make things worse?

[ErnestineBass]

Who OWNS the world's food supply?

http://www.vanityfair.com/politicalfeatures/2008/05/monsanto200805

IMHO, everyone needs to read this article.

[outnow]

You didn't know that! Oh my God. The only good thing in Vanity Fair is that I'm related to JFK through marriage, according to the Camelot article.

[ErnestineBass]

Of course I knew this, outnow, but you'd be surprised at the number of people who don't. And why the derision for "Vanity Fair"? Many of it's in-depth investigative pieces leave rags like Time and Newsweek in the dust.

[JScott]

Hmm this is like that riot scene in Soylent Green.


'soylent green is people'

Here's the solution-humans quit popping out so many babies.

[dadw5boys]

So much for the Musmiums conquering the world by having a lot of babies.

[vippy]

Don't forget, Americans are famous for having multiple children and some on welfare to begin with. I am for putting out a limit of two! See how the responsive will be on that.

[dadw5boys]

Well I wanted 10. The number of native born Americans has been dropping so fast since 1975 and that zero population thing.

That lady who started the zero population thing in the U.S. owned one of the largest farms in California totally dependent on immigrant labor.
I often wornder if she had an agenda.

Anyway, I belive for the USA to survive we need native born who will not pick up and leave when our country need warriors.

[outnow]

Now you understand why Warren Buffet invested in food companies. Globalizing the food market eliminates the ability of people to grow food for themselves. They must then depend of the invisible hand of the free market to eat. The religious right does not care about humanity.

[dadw5boys]

QUESTION:

IS YOUR MUTUAL FUND INVESTING IT COMMODITY MARKET AND DRIVING YOUR FOOD COST UP?????
IS YOUR MUTUAL FUND INVESTING IN OIL FURTURES DRIVING THE COST OF ENGERY UP??

IS YOUR MONEY WORKING AGAINST YOU?????

[ErnestineBass]

Is your mutual fund investing in Monsanto?

[dadw5boys]

The corporate race to the bottom to find the cheapest labor did not include Hati???

So many poor why don't business want to go there.

Maybe the Hatian People need a reality check?

[NelsonR]

The elitist broke the back of our financial institutions with greed. Stocks then fell and where did they go, commodities. With commodities now soaring and inflation unchecked where are they now, invested in overseas currencies and markets. Our rich and political leaders have a brain and are leading the masses around like the good little followers they are. Egotistical giants.

Globalization has certainly aggravated the economic downturn in America and it will be on a continuous downward spiral for years to come. Those in power must be forced out next election, a clean slate is necessary. Anyway, our leaders have made enough money after serving the people???
Food riots will be a normal way of life in the world.

[JacobSinger]

And still another of the many signs that GOP/NeoConservative principles of financial and governmental policies are the most elitist and predatory in nature among the available ideologies for defining political goals.

The only remaining questions about such an abhorent ideology are these:

1) Have the NeoConservatives done enough damage to themselves politically that we will be spared this sort of nonsense in the future?

2) Is the damage so great that our so-called "global economy" [and the nations that such entails] will collapse into isolationist factions in an effort to survive?

3) Will we magnanimously ignore the crimes, the criminals and the costs of the NeoCon/Friedmanite folly, or will be rightfully and apologetically incarcerate such tyrannical ideologues and their dysfunctional ideology to the cell that contains Stalinist Communism and Hitler's Nazis?

[dadw5boys]

THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY OR NEW WORLD ORDER HAS DID NOT LEARN TO USE THEIR CORPORATE DOMINATION OF THE WORLD SOFTWARE VERY WELLL!!!!!!!!!!

THEY HAVE NOT GOTTEN THE LOGISTICIAL SOFTWARE PROPERLY PROGRAMMED TO ALLOW FOR CROPS THAT FAIL FROM MONSANTO'S SEEDS AND THE GENETIC ALTERED POLLEN CAUSEING EVEN WEEDS TO MUTED OTHER CROPS THAT MAKES GRASSES AND WEEDS AGRESSIVE KILLING CROPS PEOPLE NEED TO EAT.

PLUS DROUGHT.

India will have to import food it looks like since the Monsanto Seeds failed there.

[vippy]

So true and I saw a map where each country is only allowed to produce one grain.
What are they trying to do, control not only oil but our very lives?

[BlackLeatherRain]

Not just oil, but governments, yes. It is more profitable to pigeonhole these countries instead of allowing them the chance to flourish on their own.

The spread of this fake, one-sided "capitalism" through the World Bank is truly a global race to the bottom. If it is not corrected, there's the chance of a global version of the French Revolution in our collective future.

[dadw5boys]

As the world policeman the USA can control who gets what technology when also.
Is that the country we want??

[Chavez08]

We, as people, are as much at fault.

We were apathetic to the world we were poisoning, the Asian countries we were bombing, the blue-collar regions who lost all the manufacturing. Even fellow working-class folks, - just one little step higher in the pyramid were mumbling "at least I've still got mine" or "well, they should have went to a good college" while they were trying to position their 62" plasma into the Ford Excursion with the help of a should-be retired already auto-worker wearing a Walmart vest.

Apathy, war lust and greed should sum-up the final days of the American experiment.

[Nova16]

Let the eat cake-- until heads start to roll. I can't understand how this nation of ours can waste over $500,000,000,000 and growing a the rate of $12,000,000,000 a month on a phony senseless war and allow children to starve anywhere in the world. What is wrong with this scenario?

[robinhood1]

The nation's hillbillies voted to put Bush into office in the name of God, guns and gays(anti-gay). They certainly didn't do it for the Bush tax cuts. Now they can't afford gas for their car, food for their table or health insurance. Their sons are coming home from Iraq in stretchers or boxes. I wonder if they are still happy with how they voted.