If there is justice in this world, Ben Bernanke should ultimately be tried for crimes against humanity. His policies are killing people across the globe.
Food Riots 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011 9:54
The stunningly violent food riots in Tunisia and Algeria show just how quickly things can change. Just a few months ago, these two northern Africa nations were considered to be very stable, very peaceful and without any major problems. But now protesters are openly squaring off with police in the streets. Many of the protesters are throwing “fire bombs” or are shooting fireworks at the authorities, and the police are responding with a tremendous amount of violence themselves. In Algeria, several protesters have been killed by police and several others have actually set themselves on fire to protest the economic conditions. In Tunisia, more than 100 people have been killed and the president of that country actually had to flee for his life. But on a global scale, food shortages have not even gotten that bad yet. Yes, food prices are starting to go up and food supplies are a little bit tighter right now, but much worse times than these are coming. So what in the world are the cities of the world going to look like when we have a very serious food shortage?
Just as we saw during the food riots of 2008, when people get to the point where they can’t even feed themselves anymore, they tend to lose it. In the video posted below, you can really feel the desperation of these young Algerians as they riot in the streets….
This next video is of the food riots in Tunisia. You will not want to let any young children watch this video. In fact, if watching police beat and smash protesters laying on the ground upsets you, then you might not want to watch this video either. The massive food riots that have erupted in Tunisia have left many city streets looking like war zones and at this point it is being reported that the violence has left over 100 people dead. The president of Tunisia has left the country because of the rioting, and an interim president has been sworn in. It is hoped that this will help restore order. This video is absolutely stunning….
You see, the truth is that it is not just in the United States that people are becoming angry at government. All over the world, frustration is boiling over. But unlike the United States, where food is still very plentiful, in many areas of the world it is the deteriorating economic conditions that are sparking many of these riots.
According to the FAO, the global price of food hit a new record high in December. For most Americans and Europeans, a rise in the price of food is just an inconvenience. But in many areas of the world, even a relatively small rise in the price of food can mean that the survival of millions is suddenly threatened.
Global authorities are concerned that these food riots might start spreading – especially if the extremely harsh weather all over the globe continues to damage crops.
In fact, there are some signs that economic unrest is already beginning to spread….
*In the nation of Jordan, peaceful demonstrations were held in several locations around the country on Friday to protest rising food prices.
*In Libya, protests about the late completion of government subsidized housing entered their third day on Sunday. Reportedly, hundreds of uncompleted units have been taken over by protesters and so far the police are not taking action to evict them. There is also growing concern that the food riots in neighboring Tunisia will soon pour over into Libya.
*Economic protests also been reported recently in Mozambique, Morocco and Chile.
Sadly, the desperate economic conditions that are sparking these food riots did not develop overnight. Rather, they have been building for decades. The truth is that the new “global economy” is designed to funnel more and more of the wealth of the world into the hands of the wealthiest 0.001% of the global population. Everyone else is left to fight with one another to divide up a pie that is increasingly shrinking.
Just consider the following five facts….
#1 Approximately 1 billion people throughout the world go to bed hungry every single night.
#2 Approximately 28 percent of all children in developing countries are considered to be underweight or have had their growth stunted as a result of malnutrition.
#3 Every 3.6 seconds someone starves to death and three-quarters of them are children under the age of 5.
#4 “Least developed countries” spent 9 billion dollars on food imports in 2002. By 2008, that number had risen to 23 billion dollars.
#5 A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research discovered that the bottom half of the world population owns approximately 1 percent of all global wealth.
So if things are this bad already, what kind of food riots are we going to see if all of this weird weather continues and global harvests are much lower than anticipated in 2011?
Most Americans have a really hard time even imagining such a thing, but the truth is that we are just one really bad harvest away from mass starvation in many areas of the world.
We are not going to see mass starvation in the United States in 2011, but we could see food prices start to go up significantly. Keep in mind that more than 43 million Americans are already on food stamps. The incredible abundance of food that we have been enjoying for so many decades is not guaranteed to last indefinitely.
Dennis Conley, an agricultural economist at the University of Nebraska, recently told MSNBC that food reserves in the United States are already disturbingly low….
“I haven’t seen numbers this low that I can remember in the last 20 or 30 years.”
So yes, there are legitimate reasons to be concerned.
The world really is on the verge of a major food crisis, and if global harvests are not significantly better than most analysts are currently projecting, then we are likely to see a lot more food riots around the globe before 2011 is over.
Axel says:
Judging by how obese Americans have gotten, would it be a bad thing if we had less access to food?
Like or Dislike:
4 
0
17th January 2011 at 2:06 pm
cahuitabeachbound says:
Axel:
I kinda agree. I’m one of them. Not proud of it but I need to have that hungry Che Guevara look.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
17th January 2011 at 2:10 pm
Kill Bill says:
Judging by how obese Americans have gotten, would it be a bad thing if we had less access to food? -Axel
At one time I weighed over 240 lbs. [Shutup TuffyKlub] but now back to about 200 and 32 waist.
Its not just food but junk food at every register
As for Bernanke and the banksters screw them with a rusty chainsaw.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
6 
0
17th January 2011 at 2:46 pm
Buckhed says:
OK …I give up were are the video’s ? Is this why Ricky Gervais disappeared last night…he was looking for the video’s ?
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
17th January 2011 at 3:26 pm
Administrator says:
Buckhed
I can see the videos. Is anyone else having problems?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
17th January 2011 at 3:39 pm
StuckInNJ says:
I can see the videos.
I have been looking at other videos as well. There is some real nasty shit going on there.
I found this response from someone called targfediil13. I believe he’s from Tunisia as he had other posts completely in Arabic script.
“Not media make this riots. This is Tunisia PEOPLE. We rising against Tyranny! We no fall for you lies. You tell lies about fake Al Qaeda are the cause. U lie for why reasone? We Tunisia PEOPLE make example now for rest of World. We know who is ememy. We know trick of Mossad M16 and CIA. Tunisia PEOPLE who working hard now being to rise up to tyranny criminels who ruin our land. We now rise up against banking criminels. We now fight and kill guvenment peoples who are all criminel. We not divided. We the Tunisia PEOPLE pray world watching and helping. Vive la Tunisie libre.” targafediil13
.
Interesting is it not …. all the way in Tunisia … talk of banksters and their evil politicians enablers.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
6 
0
17th January 2011 at 3:54 pm
fwiw imho says:
With Firefox and Adblock Plus, the videos don’t show up.
They do with IE.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
17th January 2011 at 3:56 pm
cahuitabeachbound says:
Ultimately I don’t see the U.S. descending into food riots. The reason is pretty obvious. We are the world’s largest food producer. I always argued the plight of farmers was they were victims of their own success. They simply had the ability to produce so much food. If you think about it food riots happen in countries that have shitty agriculture and have to import. We produced so much corn that someone had to come up with the idea of what to do with all of it. Why not feed it to cattle to fatten them up and make them tastier. I reminds me of the story in Catch 22 where Milo had so much cotton that they fed it to the personnel. We will never have food riots in America.
Like or Dislike:
1 
1
17th January 2011 at 5:45 pm
Administrator says:
cahuitbeachbound
The food has to get to the grocery stores. We peak oil hits with ferocity our just in time transportation society will fail to function. If the food is stuck in Iowa, the people on the 30 Blocks of Squalor won’t be happy.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
17th January 2011 at 5:59 pm
underfire says:
cahuitabeachbound
I agree, but still I have to restate the obvious. Food production in the US comes down to a little physical labor+a hell of a lot of oil based inputs. As oil costs go up there will be a somewhat similar rise in cost of production in ag commodities. (I’ve got over thirty years in farming and ranching).
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
17th January 2011 at 6:24 pm
llpoh says:
Admin – the transport issue will be much less if we substitute whole foods for processed foods.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
17th January 2011 at 6:24 pm
Centerfield says:
llpoh, tell us how that is so? Most processing plants are located relatively close to where the crops are. From there they can either rinse and box the fresh stuff (and then distribute), or process and can the hell out of it (and still then distribute). You still have to distribute to super markets across the country, so if anything you would see regional shortages of certain items (i.e. California grown strawberries, walnuts, etc.) because of the cost to ship may become prohibitive to the point that people don’t pay the price.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
17th January 2011 at 6:28 pm
TeresaE says:
We may grow the crops, but processing the food is creating fewer and fewer American jobs. Congress damn well guaranteed that our food prices are going to explode, and our food processing plants are going to go the way of kids’ toys plants when they passed the “Food Safety Act.” Make sure everyone is “shocked” when you figure out food isn’t made here as much anymore.
Now consider the reality that the GMO crops are dead, they produce no viable seeds, and the yields per acre drop with every year the farmer poisons the ground with these seeds and their pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Monsanto is evil and by the inflation in worldwide food, they are screwing the poorest the hardest.
Anyone ever bother to ask yourself why a machine nut has to list its country of origin at multiple levels of its sales life, but your Banquet Fried Chicken, Burger King hamburger, Walmart branded corn and Mott’s Apple Juice does NOT?
We better start asking that soon.
We also better pray that the growing middle class in India and China don’t get a taste for Steak ‘ems, cause if they do, our prices will rise for more than weather, regulation and shrinking yields.
The perfect storm of fucked. That is what we seem to be.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
10 
0
17th January 2011 at 6:45 pm
llpoh says:
Centerfield – processed foods come in boxes/cans. Boxes need to be manufactured and shipped. Materials for boxes/cans need to be manufactured and shipped to box/can makers/. Boxes and cans take up a lot of space on a truck for not much weight. Consumers can carry a lot more whole food home than they can boxes and cans. Whole foods do not need to be distributed in supermarkets. Etc. Etc.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
17th January 2011 at 6:54 pm
THC4SSS says:
Don’t forget whole foods need hydrocarbons to grow also, fertilizer, water pumps, …
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
17th January 2011 at 7:40 pm
cahuitabeachbound says:
Administrator/ Underfire:
I think you miss my point. Even if oil gets to be expensive we still have the ABILITY to produce agricultural products. It will simply be a function of prioritizing energy into the food sector. It may be expensive but it is doable (Like RE’s mother) The gooks, spooks and rags don’t have the POTENTIAL to produce food regardless of energy at any price. You could have oil at 20.00 a barrel and some towel in Chad or Mali will still have to eat imported food. Same with Egypt, Sudan, Upper Revolta or Absurdistan.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
17th January 2011 at 7:48 pm
TeresaE says:
@THC
Yes they do. But they are not flooded with Round Up AND they produce viable seeds that grow crops (especially for the undeveloped world) next year.
How does the WHO, or any other program that “helps” the poor, figure them to be able to cough up with ever increasing expenses of seeds annually and more, and more, chemicals?
Natural growing methods worked for thousands of years for a reason. We have been sold a bunch of crap under the guise of “increasing yields.”
Even the people of Haiti realized that Monsanto was screwing them by “donating” dead seeds. Where are starving people going to come up with millions every year to grow the crops? At least with whole foods they can harvest the seeds and replant next year.
Like or Dislike:
4 
0
17th January 2011 at 7:54 pm
cahuitabeachbound says:
Jim:
The MLKers in the Thirty Blocks of Squalor are in a state with HUGE agricultural production. With the exception of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Alaska every other state has prolific food production. Fucking south Texas grows grapefuit!!!(granted with alot of misallocated water). We are literally awash in food. Energy is a potential obstacle, not a barrier to keeping people fed.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
17th January 2011 at 8:12 pm
AKAnon says:
Teresa E-You have the best grasp on this and all other subjects you address I have seen. I have literally never read a post of yours I did not agree with completely. Do I recall correctly you referring to a hubby in the past? If not….
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
17th January 2011 at 10:25 pm
llpoh says:
cahuitabeachbound: agree totally re food. The US can grow food like no place else. And just think if we stop feeding it to cattle how much there would be. The US could just about feed the world if we stop eating grain fed beef (or any beef for that matter) and turning corn into ethanol. Plus grass fed tastes WAY better.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
17th January 2011 at 10:36 pm
llpoh says:
AKAnon: TeresaE is way out of your league. Her Avatar is much nicer looking.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
17th January 2011 at 10:37 pm
AKAnon says:
llpoh-no argument, but a guy can hope, can’t he?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
17th January 2011 at 10:40 pm
cahuitabeachbound says:
IIpoh
The fuck grass fed beef tastes better!!!!
I’ve never had Kobe beef but it sounds like orgasm in a bovine. Don’t they feed them corn mash liquor paste or something?
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
17th January 2011 at 12:06 am
eugend66 says:
Any buyer of agri products should be forced to take delivery instead of speculating on the
food market. Printed monies and food do not mix well. Oh, derivatives on food products
should be banned also.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
17th January 2011 at 2:33 am
Nonanonymous says:
Eugene, wtf are you talking about? Derivatives originated with food products as a way to off load risk involved with delivering crops to market.
If you are sitting around waiting for responsible policy from any federal agency, you’re going to be waiting a long time, at least until the the US has gone one world, or returned to individual freedoms. If the former, your wait will be in vain. But either way, we’re headed to a show down.
Think about it, if you want to take over the world, create a real estate bubble, the foreclosure scandals and public pension bubble, then with the stroke of a pen, the NWO takes over all of the central banks in the world, owns massive amounts of real estate, and replaces the Catholic church as the largest slum lord in the world.
Deviously brilliant, and only one mastermind in the world could pull it off, Satan.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
17th January 2011 at 8:11 am
Plato_Plubius says:
@Judging by how obese Americans have gotten, would it be a bad thing if we had less access to food?
In every case I don’t necessarily believe it is the quantity of food consumed but the quality! More and more processed GMO food will lead to continued obesity! If we did away with Mickey D’s and Jack in the Crack we might actually be better. But tell that to private enterprise who hide behind the Constitution and state that if we, as a society, set these kinds of laws like San Francisco did by banning Happy Meals, then we are infringing on their freedom of speech and yadiyadi yada!
I’m not saying we should do this, just trying to put the obesity issue into perspective. Not to mention the organic, healthier food costs so much more than the easy processed crap, that a poor person would have to devote a large portion of their monthly expenses to food just to eat healthier.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
17th January 2011 at 12:08 pm
Plato_Plubius says:
@cahuitabeachbound
you said:
“The MLKers in the Thirty Blocks of Squalor are in a state with HUGE agricultural production. With the exception of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Alaska every other state has prolific food production. Fucking south Texas grows grapefuit!!!(granted with alot of misallocated water). We are literally awash in food. Energy is a potential obstacle, not a barrier to keeping people fed.”
I would argue that even though we are “awash in food” that this food has a pre-determined destination. Because of varying trade agreements between multinationals and various countries most of the food grown here is exported. What you will in the United States is similar to what has been going on for decades in the 3rd world countries. The indigenous population is growing stuff that they ship overseas and comes back to them at hire prices! It sounds preposterous, I know, but with rising price inflation in the commodities market, I believe, the U.S. will get a small taste of it’s own medicine. Then there will be outrage but more than likely WAY TOO LATE! We should have been outraged when it was happening to our brothers and sisters in the developing world!
Do you think the developing world will shed a tear for us? Maybe a few, but all in all I think not!
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
17th January 2011 at 3:22 pm
Plato_Plubius says:
opps…”higher” not “hire” prices! DUH!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
17th January 2011 at 3:23 pm
Anonymous says:
Not all that long ago (few months) I was buying fresh corn 4 and even 5 for a D. Yesterday they were $.98 ea “And So it Goes” (LE)
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
17th January 2011 at 5:58 pm
Corrinne N says:
I think we may be seeing food riots in the USA.
The new food safety law just passed will put most US farmers out of business within the next decade if we can not get it repealed. I would not be at all surprised if farmers decide to “STRIKE” here in the USA as a form of protest against that blasted Monsanto food safety farce law
As one farmer just said LET THEM EAT GRASS! I for one agree!
Like or Dislike:
4 
0
17th January 2011 at 9:28 pm