PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: Hunger bashed in the front
gate of Haiti's presidential palace. Hunger poured onto
the streets, burning tires and taking on soldiers and
police. Hunger sent the country's prime minister packing.

Most of the poorest of the poor

Your point seems to be that there is little problem with food production,

but that the real problem is with distribution,

caused in large part by poverty.

I remember decades ago, when some country or another was starving, the
blame was placed on cash crops substituting for food crops. Was it
Bananas? Or coffee? When the commodity morkets corrected, suddenly
nobody had a job, and despite acres of farmland, little food was grown
domestically. And everybody was starving.

The Fury of the Poor

knews4u2c...@yahoo.com> wrote

The Fury of the Poor

So which came first....poor.....or hungry?

On Apr 19, 4:49 pm, "Paul Thomas" <paulthomas...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

knews4u2c...@yahoo.com> wrote

The Fury of the Poor

So which came first....poor.....or hungry?

Ask the Japanese:

* Justin Norrie, Tokyo
* April 21, 2008
* Page 1 of 2

MARIKO Watanabe admits she could have chosen a better time to take up
baking. This week, when the Tokyo housewife visited her local Ito-
Yokado supermarket to buy butter to make a cake, she found the shelves
bare.

"I went to another supermarket, and then another, and there was no
butter at those either. Everywhere I went there were notices saying
Japan has run out of butter. I couldn't believe it — this is the first
time in my life I've wanted to try baking cakes and I can't get any
butter," said the frustrated cook.

Japan's acute butter shortage, which has confounded bakeries,
restaurants and now families across the country, is the latest
unforeseen result of the global agricultural commodities crisis.

A sharp increase in the cost of imported cattle feed and a decline in
milk imports, both of which are typically provided in large part by
Australia, have prevented dairy farmers from keeping pace with demand.

While soaring food prices have triggered rioting among the starving
millions of the third world, in wealthy Japan they have forced a
pampered population to contemplate the shocking possibility of a long-
term — perhaps permanent — reduction in the quality and quantity of
its food.

A 130% rise in the global cost of wheat in the past year, caused
partly by surging demand from China and India and a huge injection of
speculative funds into wheat futures, has forced the Government to hit
flour millers with three rounds of stiff mark-ups. The latest — a 30%
increase this month — has given rise to speculation that Japan, which
relies on imports for 90% of its annual wheat consumption, is no
longer on the brink of a food crisis, but has fallen off the cliff.

According to one government poll, 80% of Japanese are frightened about
what the future holds for their food supply.

Last week, as the prices of wheat and barley continued their
relentless climb, the Japanese Government discovered it had exhausted
its ¥230 billion ($A2.37 billion) budget for the grains with two
months remaining. It was forced to call on an emergency ¥55 billion
reserve to ensure it could continue feeding the nation.

"This was the first time the Government has had to take such drastic
action since the war," said Akio Shibata, an expert on food imports,
who warned the Agriculture Ministry two years ago that Japan would
have to cut back drastically on its sophisticated diet if it did not
become more self-sufficient.
snip

On Apr 21, 9:29 am, knews4u2c...@yahoo.com wrote:



On Apr 19, 4:49 pm, "Paul Thomas" <paulthomas...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

knews4u2c...@yahoo.com> wrote

The Fury of the Poor

So which came first....poor.....or hungry?

Ask the Japanese:

* Justin Norrie, Tokyo
* April 21, 2008
* Page 1 of 2


snip

On Apr 21, 12:58 pm, knews4u2c...@yahoo.com wrote:



On Apr 21, 9:29 am, knews4u2c...@yahoo.com wrote:

On Apr 19, 4:49 pm, "Paul Thomas" <paulthomas...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

knews4u2c...@yahoo.com> wrote

The Fury of the Poor

So which came first....poor.....or hungry?

Ask the Japanese:

* Justin Norrie, Tokyo
* April 21, 2008
* Page 1 of 2

snip

If you are hungry there is the food bank or dumpster diving behind
Burger King or food stamps

So which came first....poor.....or hungry?

Ask the Japanese:

On Apr 21, 9:29 am, knews4u2c...@yahoo.com wrote:





On Apr 19, 4:49 pm, "Paul Thomas" <paulthomas...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

knews4u2c...@yahoo.com> wrote

The Fury of the Poor

So which came first....poor.....or hungry?

Ask the Japanese:

    *   Justin Norrie, Tokyo
    * April 21, 2008
    * Page 1 of 2

MARIKO Watanabe admits she could have chosen a better time to take up
baking. This week, when the Tokyo housewife visited her local Ito-
Yokado supermarket to buy butter to make a cake, she found the shelves
bare.

"I went to another supermarket, and then another, and there was no
butter at those either. Everywhere I went there were notices saying
Japan has run out of butter. I couldn't believe it — this is the first
time in my life I've wanted to try baking cakes and I can't get any
butter," said the frustrated cook.

Japan's acute butter shortage, which has confounded bakeries,
restaurants and now families across the country, is the latest
unforeseen result of the global agricultural commodities crisis.

A sharp increase in the cost of imported cattle feed and a decline in
milk imports, both of which are typically provided in large part by
Australia, have prevented dairy farmers from keeping pace with demand.

While soaring food prices have triggered rioting among the starving
millions of the third world, in wealthy Japan they have forced a
pampered population to contemplate the shocking possibility of a long-
term — perhaps permanent — reduction in the quality and quantity of
its food.

A 130% rise in the global cost of wheat in the past year, caused
partly by surging demand from China and India and a huge injection of
speculative funds into wheat futures, has forced the Government to hit
flour millers with three rounds of stiff mark-ups. The latest — a 30%
increase this month — has given rise to speculation that Japan, which
relies on imports for 90% of its annual wheat consumption, is no
longer on the brink of a food crisis, but has fallen off the cliff.

According to one government poll, 80% of Japanese are frightened about
what the future holds for their food supply.

Last week, as the prices of wheat and barley continued their
relentless climb, the Japanese Government discovered it had exhausted
its ¥230 billion ($A2.37 billion) budget for the grains with two
months remaining. It was forced to call on an emergency ¥55 billion
reserve to ensure it could continue feeding the nation.

"This was the first time the Government has had to take such drastic
action since the war," said Akio Shibata, an expert on food imports,
who warned the Agriculture Ministry two years ago that Japan would
have to cut back drastically on its sophisticated diet if it did not
become more self-sufficient.
snip

And from sea to shining sea.....http://nysun.com/news/food-rationing-confronts-breadbasket-world

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World
By JOSH GERSTEIN, Staff Reporter of the Sun | April 21, 2008

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Many parts of America, long considered the
breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable
phenomenon: food rationing.

    * Separator
    * Comment
    * Share
    * Print
    * email
    * Separator

Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West
Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand
outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers
are hoarding grain stocks.

At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers
grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched
in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy.

“Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu,
said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is
ridiculous.”

The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four
or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants,
but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in
stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99.
snip>- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Apr 21, 1:58 pm, knews4u2c...@yahoo.com wrote:



On Apr 21, 9:29 am, knews4u2c...@yahoo.com wrote:

On Apr 19, 4:49 pm, "Paul Thomas" <paulthomas...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

knews4u2c...@yahoo.com> wrote

The Fury of the Poor

So which came first....poor.....or hungry?

Ask the Japanese:

* Justin Norrie, Tokyo
* April 21, 2008
* Page 1 of 2

MARIKO Watanabe admits she could have chosen a better time to take up
baking. This week, when the Tokyo housewife visited her local Ito-
Yokado supermarket to buy butter to make a cake, she found the shelves
bare.

"I went to another supermarket, and then another, and there was no
butter at those either. Everywhere I went there were notices saying
Japan has run out of butter. I couldn't believe it — this is the first
time in my life I've wanted to try baking cakes and I can't get any
butter," said the frustrated cook.

Japan's acute butter shortage, which has confounded bakeries,
restaurants and now families across the country, is the latest
unforeseen result of the global agricultural commodities crisis.

A sharp increase in the cost of imported cattle feed and a decline in
milk imports, both of which are typically provided in large part by
Australia, have prevented dairy farmers from keeping pace with demand.

While soaring food prices have triggered rioting among the starving
millions of the third world, in wealthy Japan they have forced a
pampered population to contemplate the shocking possibility of a long-
term — perhaps permanent — reduction in the quality and quantity of
its food.

A 130% rise in the global cost of wheat in the past year, caused
partly by surging demand from China and India and a huge injection of
speculative funds into wheat futures, has forced the Government to hit
flour millers with three rounds of stiff mark-ups. The latest — a 30%
increase this month — has given rise to speculation that Japan, which
relies on imports for 90% of its annual wheat consumption, is no
longer on the brink of a food crisis, but has fallen off the cliff.

According to one government poll, 80% of Japanese are frightened about
what the future holds for their food supply.

Last week, as the prices of wheat and barley continued their
relentless climb, the Japanese Government discovered it had exhausted
its ¥230 billion ($A2.37 billion) budget for the grains with two
months remaining. It was forced to call on an emergency ¥55 billion
reserve to ensure it could continue feeding the nation.

"This was the first time the Government has had to take such drastic
action since the war," said Akio Shibata, an expert on food imports,
who warned the Agriculture Ministry two years ago that Japan would
have to cut back drastically on its sophisticated diet if it did not
become more self-sufficient.
snip

And from sea to shining sea.....http://nysun.com/news/food-rationing-confronts-breadbasket-world

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World
By JOSH GERSTEIN, Staff Reporter of the Sun | April 21, 2008

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Many parts of America, long considered the
breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable
phenomenon: food rationing.

* Separator
* Comment
* Share
* Print
* email
* Separator

Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West
Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand
outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers
are hoarding grain stocks.

At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers
grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched
in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy.

“Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu,
said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is
ridiculous.”

The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four
or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants,
but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in
stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99.
snip>- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Oh pity the humanity with all this pissing and moaning.

Fifty years ago I was taught that the prices of a commodity in a
normal market is determined by the intersection of the supply and
demand curves, without other constraints being imposed. Therefore, to
maximize my profit, I increase my prices until demand falls off, if I
want to maximize my profits. (A concept straight out of Adam Smith's
"Wealth of Nations".)

In other words, as anyone who sells on eBay already knows, you let the
market determine the selling price.

So why all the uproar about the cost of fuels? Evidently the demand
can sustain a price above $3.00/gallon, but I strongly suspect that
when the price goes above $4.00/gal, demand will sharply fall off, and
the price of gasoline accordinly.

Something that nobody seems to take note of that back in the 1950s
when gasoline sold at $0.26/gal, people of comfortable means earned
typically between $5,000 to $10,000 per year, and a 2,000 square-foot
home in a very comfortable neighborhood sold for less than $30,000. A
starter home sold for around $7,000, Cigaretts sold for 23-cents a
pack, and when you put a quarter into the cigarette vending machine, 2-
cents were returned next to the pack.

Since the 1950s, inflation has resulted in the devaluaton of the
dollar now over 90%. What was a dollar in the 1950s is now only about
9-cents by my simple calculations. The Arab oil merchants are not
responsible for this, only Americans are to blame. We began this
decline simpy by going off the gold standard, and printing as much
money as we needed because the only cost to do this was the paper and
ink, a very stupid move in my judgement.

So, rather than pissiong and moaning, why not attack the inflation
problem and fix it. This would mean a completely new definition of the
dollar, and pinning it to something of fixed value, like gold, silver
or platinum, and then sticking with that valuation and insuring that
we have the precious metal assets to back up that newly defined
dollar. Such a move would be very painful for many Americans, but
would return us to the real world, rather than the mythicial world in
which we now live.

Harry C.

Fifty years ago I was taught that the prices of a commodity in a
normal market is determined by the intersection of the supply and
demand curves, without other constraints being imposed.

Since the 1950s, inflation has resulted in the devaluaton of the
dollar now over 90%. What was a dollar in the 1950s is now only about
9-cents by my simple calculations. The Arab oil merchants are not
responsible for this, only Americans are to blame.

Oil prices are stable in relation to gold....20 yrs ago oil was
in 20/30 dollar range....gold 250/350 range....today oil 100
...gold 1000......still about 10 to one....

In misc.survivalism hhc314@yahoo.com wrote:

Fifty years ago I was taught that the prices of a commodity in a
normal market is determined by the intersection of the supply and
demand curves, without other constraints being imposed.

[snip]

Since the 1950s, inflation has resulted in the devaluaton of the
dollar now over 90%. What was a dollar in the 1950s is now only about
9-cents by my simple calculations. The Arab oil merchants are not
responsible for this, only Americans are to blame.

Ummm....so which is it? Supply/demand, or inflation?

If the latter, in which currency are oil prices stable?

EskWIRED@spamblock.panix.com wrote:
In misc.survivalism hhc314@yahoo.com wrote:

Fifty years ago I was taught that the prices of a commodity in a
normal market is determined by the intersection of the supply and
demand curves, without other constraints being imposed.
[snip]

Since the 1950s, inflation has resulted in the devaluaton of the
dollar now over 90%. What was a dollar in the 1950s is now only about
9-cents by my simple calculations. The Arab oil merchants are not
responsible for this, only Americans are to blame.
Ummm....so which is it? Supply/demand, or inflation?

If the latter, in which currency are oil prices stable?

Oil prices are stable in relation to gold....20 yrs ago oil was
in 20/30 dollar range....gold 250/350 range....today oil 100
...gold 1000......still about 10 to one....

Gold is a reference metal....what traditionally you compare the
value (not price) of something to......one of the reasons
is that gold supply/demand stays relatively constant,
therefore its value stays the same.....

In the early seventies countries agreed...??....to use the dollar
as a reference.....however since then the amount of dollars that
have been printed have exceeded the needed/demand amount...
the value of the dollar has decreased (called monetary inflation)
...which in turn is leading to the price.....in dollars....of
commodities to increase....

There are other things that are causing to a lesser amount the
price of commodities to increase...demand growth in china and
india for example...but the major increase is from monetary
inflation.....anyone who believes the government published
inflation figures has someone else paying for what they live
on....most estimates say the true figure is over 10 percent
per year.....

By reporting a lower inflation rate then really exists the
government kept inflation to a lower level then it would have
been....a lot of government retirements and such are tied to
the reported inflation rate....by keeping it low the government
did not have to increase the money supply as much as it would
have otherwise......also it is hard to ask for a pay raise higher
then the reported rate of inflation keeping wage inflation down....

Using this and other tricks the government has hidden the
lower value of the dollar and what we are seeing is the
"catch up"....of its value.....

thank you for listening to my thoughts....have fun....sno