Forget the Poor?
We talk about the poor a lot. We arrange our politics around the poor. Our religion points us toward the poor. There have been revolutions about helping the poor. But when it comes down to it, many of us are ready to throw the poor overboard.
Food prices are soaring all over the world. Three billion people subsist mostly on rice. Yet the price of rice has soared again, rising by 10% this time. Corn is the basic food of much of Latin America, and also the basic feed for meat-producing animals. Yet the price of corn keeps soaring, up to $6 a bushel this week. Two years ago it was at about $2 a bushel. The poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America are suffering because their groceries cost so much more now. Their suffering will only get worse as food prices continue to rise.
Why are food prices rising? Two main reasons. One is biofuels. The other is rising oil prices.
As for the effect of biofuels, corn and soybeans are being substituted for other food crops for use as biofuels, not food. This is happening all over the world. So not only are biofuels driving up the cost of corn and soybeans, but of other basic foods too. Because of environmentalism, essentially we have decided to use more and more of our topsoil to produce fuel, not food. Obviously, that will mean less food produced, and bring higher food prices to us all. We middle-class people will struggle, but survive. But the burden on the world's poor will be crushing.
Then higher oil prices are causing food prices to rise as well. Farmers need petroleum-based fertilizers and fuel for their farm machinery. Truckers and ships need fuel. Refrigerated trucks, warehouses and grocery-store displays of cold and frozen foods take fuel too. Rising oil prices make all these cost more, so that all food costs more, not just the basic grains.
Why are oil prices higher? Actually, it has nothing to do with American oil giants. The market really, truly, determines the price. But there are two principal causes of rising oil prices. One is rising demand, as some of the poor countries become more prosperous. The other is the success of environmentalists in the U.S.
Environmentalists have succeeded in suppressing oil production in the U.S., a country that was once the major producer of oil in the world. Because of environmentalists, there have been no new refineries in the U.S. for 30 years. Because of them, we do not drill in ANWAR, where we could access one of the largest oil deposits in the world with almost no pollution. We do not drill offshore, when the Gulf of Mexico is filling up with foreign oil rigs, including those of China and Cuba. So not drilling offshore does not mean there is no drilling there - only that our own offshore oil will go to other countries, not us.
The increased prices of oil, and of food, are likely to be permanent, probably going even higher. Why? Because environmentalism has won politically over concern about the poor. Soaring food prices and the growing suffering of the poor, which has already begun worldwide, are happening principally because of one thing: environmentalism.
We have a choice to make. Will we choose to help the poor? Or environmentalism? It appears we cannot do both.
(For documentation, see: http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=213343. World Food Stocks Dwindling Rapicly, UN, http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/17/europe/food.php. Wheat rises to all-time high, Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aP6EBENKxOLk. Rush LImbaugh Comment, http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_032508/content/01125104.guest.html. On Increased Food Prices around world, Food costs worldwide spiked 23 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the FAO. Grains went up 42 percent, oils 50 percent and dairy 80 percent. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/25/business/LA-FEA-FIN-Mexico-Fighting-for-Food.php. rudge: price of rice up 10%, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4813b3c4-0250-11dd-9388-000077b07658.html?.nclick_check=1 Corn up to $6 a bushel, http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080403/corn_at_6.html?.v=6)
Food prices are soaring all over the world. Three billion people subsist mostly on rice. Yet the price of rice has soared again, rising by 10% this time. Corn is the basic food of much of Latin America, and also the basic feed for meat-producing animals. Yet the price of corn keeps soaring, up to $6 a bushel this week. Two years ago it was at about $2 a bushel. The poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America are suffering because their groceries cost so much more now. Their suffering will only get worse as food prices continue to rise.
Why are food prices rising? Two main reasons. One is biofuels. The other is rising oil prices.
As for the effect of biofuels, corn and soybeans are being substituted for other food crops for use as biofuels, not food. This is happening all over the world. So not only are biofuels driving up the cost of corn and soybeans, but of other basic foods too. Because of environmentalism, essentially we have decided to use more and more of our topsoil to produce fuel, not food. Obviously, that will mean less food produced, and bring higher food prices to us all. We middle-class people will struggle, but survive. But the burden on the world's poor will be crushing.
Then higher oil prices are causing food prices to rise as well. Farmers need petroleum-based fertilizers and fuel for their farm machinery. Truckers and ships need fuel. Refrigerated trucks, warehouses and grocery-store displays of cold and frozen foods take fuel too. Rising oil prices make all these cost more, so that all food costs more, not just the basic grains.
Why are oil prices higher? Actually, it has nothing to do with American oil giants. The market really, truly, determines the price. But there are two principal causes of rising oil prices. One is rising demand, as some of the poor countries become more prosperous. The other is the success of environmentalists in the U.S.
Environmentalists have succeeded in suppressing oil production in the U.S., a country that was once the major producer of oil in the world. Because of environmentalists, there have been no new refineries in the U.S. for 30 years. Because of them, we do not drill in ANWAR, where we could access one of the largest oil deposits in the world with almost no pollution. We do not drill offshore, when the Gulf of Mexico is filling up with foreign oil rigs, including those of China and Cuba. So not drilling offshore does not mean there is no drilling there - only that our own offshore oil will go to other countries, not us.
The increased prices of oil, and of food, are likely to be permanent, probably going even higher. Why? Because environmentalism has won politically over concern about the poor. Soaring food prices and the growing suffering of the poor, which has already begun worldwide, are happening principally because of one thing: environmentalism.
We have a choice to make. Will we choose to help the poor? Or environmentalism? It appears we cannot do both.
(For documentation, see: http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=213343. World Food Stocks Dwindling Rapicly, UN, http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/17/europe/food.php. Wheat rises to all-time high, Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aP6EBENKxOLk. Rush LImbaugh Comment, http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_032508/content/01125104.guest.html. On Increased Food Prices around world, Food costs worldwide spiked 23 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the FAO. Grains went up 42 percent, oils 50 percent and dairy 80 percent. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/25/business/LA-FEA-FIN-Mexico-Fighting-for-Food.php. rudge: price of rice up 10%, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4813b3c4-0250-11dd-9388-000077b07658.html?.nclick_check=1 Corn up to $6 a bushel, http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080403/corn_at_6.html?.v=6)
posted by Old Neocon at 11:42 AM
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