Soaring Commodity Prices
7 Responses | Leave a Comment »
(Photo from NY Times)
We’re in the midst of a global crisis when it comes to food and commodities. I’ve seen many articles about this epidemic in the past few weeks, but the New York Times article today really brings out the problems with the soaring food and gas prices that is causing starvation around the world. The mention of mud patties on page 2 is especially heartbreaking:
In Haiti, where three-quarters of the population earns less than $2 a day and one in five children is chronically malnourished, the one business booming amid all the gloom is the selling of patties made of mud, oil and sugar, typically consumed only by the most destitute.
“It’s salty and it has butter and you don’t know you’re eating dirt,” said Olwich Louis Jeune, 24, who has taken to eating them more often in recent months. “It makes your stomach quiet down.”
Articles like this really elucidate the fact that most of us are privileged. Most of our lives would be very different if we had to think about getting food all the time.
The crisis is not just about the world’s poor either, though they most certainly are having the biggest problems. I also saw this article in the Oregonian yesterday, which profiles some of the less fortunate people in my state. Many of these people have cut off their internet and cell phone usage. It’s unfortunate because internet and cell phones are a requirement for advancement in the digital age. Those who can’t advance will continue to fall farther behind. I have a feeling that the sagging economy will continue to weigh down on people, both in the U.S. and abroad, for a very long time.
Leave a Comment »
Share
Entries (RSS)
nightshade
5:19 pm | Apr 19, 2008I just just thinking about this the other day. We’re all so fucked.
jaehwan
2:05 pm | Apr 20, 2008We’re in some serious trouble. It takes commodities to encourage progress and economic growth, but yet commodities cost so damn much.
Oi, and it’s unfortunate that so many people are starving while the rich are getting richer. I don’t fault the ultra-wealthy, but it’s unfortunate.
uRB4N
8:18 am | Apr 21, 2008I was at the Knicks/Celtics game last week at MSG and they set up an All-You-Can-Eat buffet with free beer which was ransacked by a bunch of white fratboys.
One of them decided it would be funny to grab 10 hot dogs, take a single bite out of each, and throw them on the floor.
jaehwan
11:28 am | Apr 21, 2008I guess not everyone is affected by the commodity prices. Either that, or they just wanted to get their “money’s worth.” What a shame.
There was a “commodity prices” special on the news yesterday, and the point they kept making was that the planet has enough food. It’s just that not everyone has access to it.
jansob
8:15 am | Apr 25, 2008One of the big problems is the diversion of farm production into biofuel crops…we’re turning food into fuel, but production is not ramping up, it’s just being redistributed.
Biofuels are going to result in mass starvation in some parts of the world. When corn is worth more as biodiesel than as cornmeal, guess who can afford to buy it….not the poor. Enough food to feed 450 million people will be turned into fuel this year, and there is nothing to replace the food.
Putting more land into production won’t help in the long run as it exacerbates global warming by clearing more forest for monoculture.
This is not a left/right issue, both the Dems and Repubs are backing biofuels….which are not as clean or efficient as they are claimed to be.
We’ve got to stop burning stuff for energy, or this world is going to get a lot worse.
jaehwan
6:50 pm | Apr 27, 2008I have a friend who won’t support biofuels for the very same reason you mention. I wonder what the alternative is. Nuclear energy causes (more or less) permanent waste, and solar seems to be hitting some serious material roadblocks. Plus, neither of these currently have any short-term expectations of being applicable to cars.
The main problem is transportation. What other alternatives to combustion are there? I sure hope they figure it out.