Apr
20
“…we will all have to rise together.”
Filed Under News, World News
The New York Times is running a story about the global rise in food prices, and how it is affecting people and governments the world over. There have already been food riots that have forced government changes in Haiti, and the Times correctly attributes some of the cause to “from strong demand for food from emerging economies like China’s to rising oil prices to the diversion of food resources to make biofuels”.
While these are important causes, one that is not discussed is rampant inflation. Prices rise through increased demand and lack of supply; no one will deny that. However, for them to have been “spiking as much as 45 percent since the end of 2006″ means that something else must be going on. If prices have gone up almost 50% in a year, then that means if nothing changes, they’re likely to have gone up almost 100% in two years. A doubling of food prices in two years is astonishing, and if the “world’s largest economy” continues to spend billions of dollars in Iraq and billions of dollars propping up failed banks and mortgages, then things are going to continue to get worse. If you’ve read the story, you know that people are apparently eating mud and giving away starving children, so if our country continues on this path of fiscal irresponsibility, if we’re not already responsible for the moral implications of such things we will be very soon. Those moral consequences are clearly outlined in the story, with one Egyptian woman’s solution forming the title of this post.
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