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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/price-shocks-food-shortages-and-global-economic-riots-in-2011
  • Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2011 20:07:10 -0700


Price Shocks, Food Shortages And Global Economic Riots In 2011?
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/price-shocks-food-shortages-and-global-economic-riots-in-2011

People need to wake up - 2011 has just begun and yet we are already seeing
significant price shocks and serious food shortages in many areas of the
globe. In fact, violent economic riots are now being reported in Algeria, in
Chile and in Mozambique. Food shortages and price increases are also causing
political unrest in other nations such as India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
This is a very serious situation, and if the major food producing nations of
the world do not have another record harvest this year there is very likely
going to be an incredibly serious global food crunch. According to the UN's
Food and Agricultural Organization, the global price of food hit a new record
high in December. The previous record high for food prices was in June 2008,
and we all remember what happened during the summer of 2008. Massive food
riots erupted in countries such as Cameroon, Haiti and Egypt. So with price
shocks and food shortages already being reported all over the globe, will we
see even worse global economic riots in 2011?

One of the things that is playing into all this is all of the really extreme
weather that we have been witnessing all over the globe. In Australia, they
have been experiencing flooding that is of Biblical proportions. Brazil has
also been hit by very serious flooding. In other parts of South America,
extremely dry weather is severely damaging many crops. In the Northern
Hemisphere, unusually cold and unusually snowy weather has many people
scratching their heads. Something really strange seems to be happening to
global weather patterns, and that is not good news for global food production.

All of this bad weather is fueling a tremendous amount of commodity
speculation. Over this past year, almost every single major agricultural
commodity has experienced a dramatic increase in price.

According to Forbes, corn is up 94% since June, soybeans are up 51% since
June, and wheat is up 80% since June.

Ouch!

All of these agricultural commodity price increases are really starting to be
felt around the globe. Meanwhile, global demand for food only continues to
increase.

For the last several years, great harvests in major food producing nations
such as the United States have been able to offset the rising demand for food
around the globe.

But what is going to happen if the big food exporting nations have a year or
two of really bad harvests?

Not only that, but there are a couple of other factors that have many
analysts warning of "inflation spikes" in the year ahead....

*Crude oil prices set new multi-year highs on Wednesday and we continue to
see a relentless march back toward $100 dollars a barrel. The price of oil
affects the price of almost everything else, so this is a key indicator to
watch.

*Rampant inflation in China is soon going to impact the prices of literally
tens of thousands of different U.S. consumer products. A recent New York
Times article stated that U.S. garment buyers should be prepared for "sticker
shock" when they attend China's annual trade shows this year....

"They’re going to go home with 35 percent less product than for the same
dollars as last year,” particularly for fur coats and cotton sportswear, said
Bennett Model, chief executive of Cassin, a Manhattan-based line of designer
clothing. “The consumer will definitely see the price rise."

So how are U.S. consumers (and consumers all over the globe) going to react
when all of those "cheap Chinese imports" are not so cheap anymore?

It won't be pretty.

But for most people around the world in 2011, the main economic problem is
likely to be the price of food. In many areas of the globe, large numbers of
people have to spend more than half their incomes just to feed themselves, so
a spike in the price of food can have very, very serious consequences.

In some areas of the world, we are already witnessing very violent economic
riots in response to rising prices for food.

Just check out what is happening in Algeria. Several protesters have been
killed and hundreds of others have been injured during violent food riots in
that country. Hordes of young people are throwing fire bombs and are
shouting slogans such as "Bring us sugar!" Are these the kinds of food riots
that we should expect to see around the globe as food gets tight this
year?....

Economic riots are also being reported in Chile and Mozambique. Officials in
India, Bangladesh and Indonesia are concerned that political unrest over
food prices could soon erupt into violence in those nations as well.

Eric Bolling of the Fox Business Network recently did a really good job of
explaining exactly what is causing all of this to happen, and in the video
posted below he does not sound very optimistic about the rest of 2011 at
all....

A recent article in Forbes magazine summarized the current global food
situation this way....

The world is treading on dangerous ground. Market forces are in place for
another global food crisis, and, as the wheels keep turning, it will become
harder for these to be put in reverse.

So what does all of this mean for America? Could we actually face food
shortages in the United States at some point?

Well, at first a global food shortage would mean rapidly rising prices for
food in the supermarkets. The shelves would still be full, but people would
not be able to afford to buy as much.

If a global food shortage was sharp enough and went on long enough, the price
shocks would eventually turn into empty shelves and physical food shortages
inside the United States.

Keep in mind, there are already tens of millions of Americans that cannot
feed themselves. In the United States today, there are over 43 million
Americans on food stamps. That means that approximately 1 out of every 7
Americans is being fed by the government.

So what is going to happen if real food shortages hit?

Already there are some very disturbing reports about food shortages in the
U.S. floating around out there.

For example, the following is an excerpt from an alert that Steve Quayle
recently posted on his website....

Having been one of the largest freeze dried food dealers in the U.S. for
a number of years, I can tell you that this event is ominous. There are less
than a dozen freeze drying food production facilities of consequence in the
U.S. of which Mountain House is the largest. I was contacted late Wednesday
night by one of their major dealers. He stated that Mountain House only had 4
entrees of foil packaged food available in their warehouse. They informed my
dealer friend that "It was only going to get worse"!

The early warning signs are right there in front of us. This has the
potential to start getting very real.

Are you ready? Are you prepared for price shocks? Are you prepared for food
shortages? Are you prepared for a global economic meltdown?

The number of "preppers" in the United States has not exploded just because
millions of Americans suddenly wanted to pick up a new hobby. The truth is
that over the last several years people have been waking up and have started
realizing that the global economic system is heading for some really, really
hard times.

Many believe that we are heading into what could potentially be some of the
most chaotic times in all of human history. Life in the years ahead is
likely to be very different from what we are experiencing now. The world is
rapidly changing. Now is the time to start getting prepared.





  • [Livingontheland] http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/price-shocks-food-shortages-and-global-economic-riots-in-2011, Tradingpost, 01/16/2011

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