Rising Food Prices and the Egyptian Tinderbox: How Banks and Investors Are Starving the Third World
source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23079
-
-
- Schnookums
- added this
Underlying the sudden, volatile uprising in Egypt and Tunisia is a growing global crisis sparked by soaring food prices and unemployment. The Associated Press reports that roughly 40 percent of Egyptians struggle along at the World Bank-set poverty level of under $2 per day. Analysts estimate that food price inflation in Egypt is currently at an unsustainable 17 percent yearly. In poorer countries, as much as 60 to 80 percent of people's incomes go for food, compared to just 10 to 20 percent in industrial countries. An increase of a dollar or so in the cost of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread for Americans can mean starvation for people in Egypt and other poor countries.
Follow the Money
The cause of the recent jump in global food prices remains a matter of debate. Some analysts blame the Federal Reserve’s “quantitative easing” program (increasing the money supply with credit created with accounting entries), which they warn is sparking hyperinflation. Too much money chasing too few goods is the classic explanation for rising prices.
The problem with that theory is that the global money supply has actually shrunk since 2006, when food prices began their dramatic rise. Virtually all money today is created on the books of banks as “credit” or “debt,” and overall lending has shrunk. This has occurred in an accelerating process of deleveraging (paying down or writing off loans and not making new ones), as the subprime housing market has collapsed and bank capital requirements have been raised. Although it seems counterintuitive, the more debt there is, the more money there is in the system. As debt shrinks, the money supply shrinks in tandem.
Read more at:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23079
-
- tags:
- Economy, Food, Wall Street, Hunger, 4 more
-
-
Prijedor
-
They need to shut up and get to work and stop blaming the west and bankers over crap like that.
- 1 year ago
-
Prijedor
-
-
Prijedor
-
Prijedor:
You are down grading my post because I say people should have their destiny in their own hands, grow food and do things for each other and not wait for bankers to do it for them and for america to send out the aid...
- 1 year ago
-
Prijedor
-
-
Schnookums
-
Prijedor:
No, I think they are downgrading it because your worldview is exceedingly narrow.
Lots of people work, want to work, work hard, and want a job but have been shit on by the banking system for their entire lives. Eventually you'll just stop taking the shit and fight back.....and that's the point of the article.
- 1 year ago
-
Schnookums
-
-
Nick19
-
The problem isn't so much a shortage of food production, rather its a problem of how its distributed on the marketplace. The E.U and the US overproduce on agrarian goods and could easily flood the food market and thus, lower food prices considerably. The problem is by doing this, they threaten the economic livelihood of smaller producers within developing nations as they cannot compete against such low prices. Also, you must take note of the middle man in the food distribution process as they may horde up on supply in order to allow the price to go up.
- 1 year ago
-
Nick19
-
-
masoodraja
-
The problem with neoliberalism is that it has no revolutionary politics. Unless, the global system of distribution is restructured, more and more people will resort to revolutionary politics against imperial stooges appointed to serve the interests of IMF and its investors.
- 1 year ago
-
masoodraja
-
-
trut
-
There are too many people on this planet, things can only get worse.
- 1 year ago
-
trut
