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Science Forum Index » Energy Forum » 5 cents a loaf is too expensive
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| habshi |
 Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:27 am |
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Guest
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Only flat rate welfare can save the planet.
In Egypt bread has been so cheap thanks to subsidies that it is fed to
cows , saving them the trouble of eating grass. Of course the
population has exploded from 40m , 20 years ago to 80m today and at
this rate will reach 2,000m this century.
If instead the $4b that the USA and other countries pour into
Egypt each year , allowing the poor to breed out of control , was
given as flat rate welfare say $100 per family per month limited to
those with two or fewer children , then 3m families would be covered,
they would make efforts not to have more than two and stay eligible
all their lives thus stabilising populations . Newly weds will also
strive to become eligible as more funds become available via smaller
families saving more as has happened in China.
Otherwise they will just use more and more coal and destroy
our planet via the greenhouse effect.
excerpt bbc.co.uk
Everyone here complains they are being squeezed by the latest wave of
price rises.
"Speak about the famine that's taking place now," says Karima Mohamed,
a mother of five.
I buy as many loaves as they allow me, 40 to 60 loaves.
Woman shopper
"A bottle of oil has now reached 10 (Egyptian) pounds (90p; $1.80).
The government should not make things expensive for the Egyptian
people, because we are the poorest of the world. Salaries here have
not increased, but prices have gone up threefold and fourfold."
Family budgets, already under pressure in this mainly poor country,
are being further strained by the international increases in the
prices of staples such as wheat, rice, cooking oil and dairy products.
Some poor families say they have had to reduce their food intake to
two meals a day.
They are eating meat even more infrequently than usual - or not at
all.
Public purse takes hit
But one commodity which has not gone up is the subsidised baladi bread
for which millions of Egyptian queue up patiently every day.
The government is desperate to keep bread prices low
At less than one US cent a loaf, it is a key element of the national
diet.
"This bread is very important for me," says Wafaa, a mother of five
who works for the tax authority.
"I buy as many loaves as they allow me, 40 to 60 loaves. But I only
take it for our daily food, and when tomorrow comes God will take care
of it."
Baladi bread of a slightly better quality sold at market prices in the
wealthier suburbs of Cairo can go up to 13 cents a loaf.
To keep the price of subsidised bread low for Egypt's 80 million
people, the national budget has had to take a big hit this year.
The world's largest importer of wheat, Egypt has spent an extra $850m
on wheat for subsidised bread. The total bill is expected to reach
$2.67bn.
According to figures cited by the World Bank in a 2005 study, a fifth
of the country's population live below the poverty line. Another 13%
are just above it and for them, any wobble in consumer prices means
they go under.
No-one has yet worked out the impact of the latest price rises on
poverty, but it is clear the government believes it needs to intervene
to absorb some of the increases.
So it is allowing up to 15 million new names to be added to the
register of people eligible to receive subsidised oil, sugar, rice and
tea.
Strikes wave
In a country with so many people struggling to make ends meet, the
authorities are also well aware of the potential for social unrest
should prices continue to soar.
In 1977 there were massive riots when it was announced that the
government would allow the prices of a list of essential goods to go
up.
So now the authorities are promising big salary increases and the
state press carries almost daily assurances from the president that
meeting the basic needs of citizens is a government priority.
In the last two years Egypt has been swept by an unprecedented wave of
strikes in both public and privately-owned factories and even in some
government departments.
In almost all cases, improved pay was the main demand, and nearly
always the workers got much of what they wanted.
Many commentators are now noting that it is not just people in
traditionally low-paid jobs who are complaining.
Even those who have always been seen as part of the middle class say
they are suffering from the erosion of any buying power their salaries
may have formerly had.
Indeed, doctors have become the latest group threatening to go on
strike unless their pay is increased.
.....
Reserves Years until oil depletion
USA 30 billion barrels 12
Venezuela 80 billion barrels 78
Kazakhstan 40 billion 77
Russia 80 billion barrels 22
Iran 137 billion barrels 87
Iraq 115 billion barrels 100
Kuwait 101 billion barrels 100
Saudi Arabia 265 billion barrels 67
UAE 98 billion barrels 90
Libya 41, 5 barrels 62
Nigeria 36 billion barrels 40 |
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