World Food Prices Hit Record

The U.N.’s food price index hit a record in January and recent catastrophic weather around the globe could put more pressure on the cost of food, an issue that has already helped spark protests across the Middle East.

Up for the seventh month in a row, the closely watched Food and Agriculture Organization Food Price Index on Thursday touched its highest since records began in 1990, and topped the peak of 224.1 in June 2008, during the food crisis of 2007/08.

“The new figures clearly show that the upward pressure on world food prices is not abating. These high prices are likely to persist in the months to come,” FAO economist and grains expert Abdolreza Abbassian said in a statement.

Surging food prices have come back into the spotlight after they helped fuel the discontent that toppled Tunisia’s president in January and have spilled over to Egypt and Jordan, raising expectations other countries in the region would secure grain stocks to reassure their populations.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick urged global leaders to “put food first” and wake up to the need to curb increased price volatility.

“We are going to be facing a broader trend of increasing commodity prices, including food commodity prices,” he told Reuters in an interview.

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Unified Quest 2011

Ever since the crash of 2008 the defense intelligence establishment has really been paying a lot of attention to global markets and how they can serve as a threat to U.S. national security interests. At one upcoming seminar next month they’re taking a look at a lot of the issues.

source: see the CNBC video report provided

According to the report, the Army has spent time on financial market trading floors with JP Morgan and others, in the hopes that they can learn more about how a financial and economic attack may occur, and what the ramifications of such attacks on US stocks and bonds may be.

The Army, in a year-long war games series called Unified Quest 2011, is looking at a variety of possibilities and how to deal with them, including:

* the implications of “large scale economic breakdown” inside of the United States
* how to maintain “domestic order amid civil unrest”
* and ways to deal with fragmented global power and drastically lower budgets

Wait, we're on the road to recovery - everything is fine - we're all good now. Right? Right? Why do I have the feeling the US government is a combination of Kevin Bacon and Chief Wiggum waving their arms in front of the fireworks display assuring us "There's nothing to see here" ?

Dear Blasphemes readers... time to learn how to grow your own food.

Trouble Ain't Over

$10.2 trillion: The amount of money advanced-nation governments will need to borrow in 2011

As the debts of advanced countries rise to levels not seen since the aftermath of World War II, it’s hard to know how much is too much. But it’s easy to see that the risk of serious financial trouble is growing.

Next year, fifteen major developed-country governments, including the U.S., Japan, the U.K., Spain and Greece, will have to raise some $10.2 trillion to repay maturing bonds and finance their budget deficits, according to estimates from the International Monetary Fund. That’s up 7% from this year, and equals 27% of their combined annual economic output.

Read more ....

CAP'N SAYS: Okay, here's your warning. Expect rough economic times and tight money that will impact everything -- Borrowing money at reasonable rates, to big government entitlement programs and defense budgets.

And if oil prices creep up - expect expensive food, expensive gasoline, heating oil and inflation or even hyper inflation. That's not good. Anger will continue to rise.

Thanks to War News Updates for the re-post

The Next Economy and America's Future

"The perfect storm: An unprecedented concentration of income and wealth at the top; a record amount of secret money flooding our democracy; and a public becoming increasingly angry and cynical about a gov't that's raising its taxes, reducing its services, and unable to get it back to work. We're losing our democracy to a different system. It's called plutocracy." ~ Robert Reich

Everybody knows the dice are loaded.

Don't Feed the...

Just a quick thought -

When you visit a National Park, or even in some cities, there are signs asking - nay, pleading - that you don't feed the wildlife. Bears, pidgins, squirrels... those cute little chipmunks that come right to you asking for a handout.

But “Handouts” hurt. Folks who offer food to animals and birds may have good intentions, but their “handouts” are more likely to cause harm than to help.

Here’s why, first you risk injury if they don’t keep a respectful distance. Look at that sign. Are the bird and rat/cat waiting for food, or did they just eat holes in that dude's hand? The answer is 'yes.' Bonus, wildlife carry diseases that can be transferred to humans, such as rabies.

Wild animals lose their natural fear of humans when they are fed. Such animals tend to become a nuisance to park goers; those that grow too aggressive may have to be shot and removed from the park. That's no fun. Yogi - Ranger Smith is going to have to get the rifle out, again.

When people provide food, wildlife populations increase to levels the natural environment cannot sustain. This unstable situation is often followed by animal starvation or by outbreaks of disease.

So, how come these same lessons and warnings aren't applied to government? I can go on and easily include the entire welfare state... but I think government would be the better example.

Of course, no one ever reads that sign. And then you have a hand bitten up by birds and rat/cats.

You've Been Warned

Well, I think that covers just about everybody....

If you're selling crazy, no thanks, we're all full up at my place.

Parental Warning

Do not send your little angels to Little Tykes Summer Camp. Okay?