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| Economy |
| World Bank: Food prices have entered the 'danger zone' |
| 2011-04-17 |
| h/t Instapundit Robert Zoellick, World Bank president, said food prices are at "a tipping point", having risen 36pc in the last year to levels close to their 2008 peak. The rising cost of food has been much more dramatic in low-income countries, pushing 44m people into poverty since June last year. Another 10pc rise in food prices would push 10m into extreme poverty, defined as an effective income of less than $1.25 a day. Already, the world's poor number 1.2bn. Mr Zoellick said he saw no short term reversal in the damaging effect of food inflation, which is felt much more in the developing world as packaging and distribution accounts for a far larger proportion of the cost in the advanced economies. Asked if he thought prices would remain high for a year, Mr Zoellick said: "The general trend lines are ones where we are in a danger zone... because prices have already gone up and stocks are relatively low." Three cheers for the wonderful: Postindustrial, Gaea saving, World we live in. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #17 Bobby, watch the video at this link, it offers a good explanation. |
| Posted by: tipper 2011-04-17 23:41 |
| #16 I got a "D" in Economics 40 years ago. Can someone translate all this into "English for Morons"? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2011-04-17 23:09 |
| #15 It's a myth that over the medium to long term, speculators raise prices of physical commodities that can not be easily stored phil_b, this is the heart and soul of the biggest debate in economics today. I hold with the Austrian view that the above statement is nonsense. The Austrian view is as stated in the article above that "Full-employment can be established only by the private sector. Therefore, the market and the price mechanism have to be allowed to operate without the distortions that have been created by government and central bank policies' The opposite view is the Krugman/Keynesian view as you stated. Unfortunately it's also the view being taught to unsuspecting students at most universities. What they fail to understand is the difference between physical speculators and financial speculators (casino gamblers) |
| Posted by: tipper 2011-04-17 22:12 |
| #14 It's a myth that over the medium to long term, speculators raise prices of physical commodities that can not be easily stored, essentially gold and silver. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-04-17 21:22 |
| #13 phil_b, commodities have moved from their historical purpose of feeding people and making things, into the casino. Sure natural caused can cause short term shortages and price rises, but if handled correctly, these periods are brief and price rises are small. But with the new Casino Economics instituted by Bernanke, commodities have lost their connection to the real world and depend for their prices on the luck of the casino players. Relying on casino gamblers has always been a receipt for disaster. |
| Posted by: tipper 2011-04-17 21:16 |
| #12 tipper, a looming world food crisis shouldn't be news to regulars here. Several people have been warning about it for years. We are one, overdue, large volcanic eruption away from large scale famine. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-04-17 21:01 |
| #11 Sorry WB. Egypt beat you to it a couple of months ago. |
| Posted by: Cragum Henbane1072 2011-04-17 20:48 |
| #10 JM that makes allot of sense "a Global "Perfect Storm" of variable Crises" and it sure looks like we are moving out of the eye into turbulence. Youth not having work is causing trouble true true. One world order? what a laugh. One currency, no way. We are too interdependent now. To me it looks like we either shoot ourselves in the foot or mother nature will. |
| Posted by: Dale 2011-04-17 20:46 |
| #9 Food inflation is primarily a supply side problem, made substantially worse by the biofuels lunancy. phil_b, maybe, but have a look at this article from Oct 2010 which anticipated a great deal of what we currently see unfolding in the world. Bernanke sets the world on fire |
| Posted by: tipper 2011-04-17 20:20 |
| #8 See also DRUDGEREPORT > WORLD BANK PRESIDENT: WORLD IS "ONE SHOCK AWAY" FROM FULL-BLOWN CRISIS. IIUC ARTIC = a Global "Perfect Storm" of variable Crises. WB Prez ZOELLICK = 'Tis a [Global] Econ Recovery wid NOT ENOUGH JOBS, ESPEC FOR WORLD YOUTHS = YOUNG ADULTS... ... IN ANY "REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT", THE "STATUS QUO" METHODOLOGY(S), ETC. IS NOT THE WINNING HAND. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-04-17 20:05 |
| #7 Indeed BP that is correct but only on an overall basis. Food inflation is primarily a supply side problem, made substantially worse by the biofuels lunancy. The only monetary solution to food inflation is a special currency exclusively for food, also known as rationing. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-04-17 19:23 |
| #6 I'd like to remind you and Mr Bernanke that 'inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon' |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2011-04-17 17:21 |
| #5 # 4 Mr. G thank you for that post. This article was shown in the UK first. Rice has dropped in price however our only bright spot. An old scout motto "be prepared" comes to mind. We are paying higher prices now and they are going up every day. The poor countries are suffering but we don't hear much about them now for some reason. Water looms as a major issue. Well, it's really a problem now. The solution is not government. Socialism is not an answer. Free capitalism and its people and this can be resolved toot sweet. So much mucking about and nothing to show for it. |
| Posted by: Dale 2011-04-17 17:16 |
| #4 20 Signs That A Horrific Global Food Crisis Is Coming |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-04-17 14:52 |
| #3 "Is there truly not enough food for the world, or is it just that in much of the world the various national GDPs are hidden away in the ruling class's Swiss bank accounts, unavailable for paying higher prices?" I'll take Door #2, tw. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2011-04-17 14:21 |
| #2 having risen 36pc in the last year to levels close to their 2008 peak. I seem to recall -- although perhaps I am mistaken -- that we survived the 2008 peak, apparently still higher than current levels. Is there truly not enough food for the world, or is it just that in much of the world the various national GDPs are hidden away in the ruling class's Swiss bank accounts, unavailable for paying higher prices? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-04-17 14:06 |
| #1 "World Bank: Food prices have entered the 'danger zone'" What - they might not be able to afford all the patè and champagne they want? That's the only thing that would really bother these clowns. Sounds more like they're laying the groundwork to demand the |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2011-04-17 10:09 |