Food prices may be catalyst for 2013 revolutions Commentary: Algeria, Greece, Russia and China could be hot spots
But more often than not, it is soaring food prices.
The easiest prediction to make for 2013 is that everything we eat will once again rise sharply in price. So where will the revolutions start this year? Keep an eye on Algeria and Greece — and if you want to feel very nervous, Russia and China. And if you are smart, keep your money out of those countries as well.
Reuters Food prices around the world could soar this year if there’s a repeat of 2012’s drought in the American Midwest. The link between the cost of feeding your family and political turmoil is too well-established to be ignored. We saw it most recently with the Arab Spring of 2011. The uprisings that deposed the autocracies of the Middle East had their roots in food inflation. Most of the Middle East countries import 50% or more of their food, making them acutely vulnerable to rising commodity prices. In Egypt the food inflation rate hit 19% in early 2011. For President Hosni Mubarak that was game over. The regime was finished.
It goes back much further than that, however. Failed harvests in France in 1788 and 1789 meant that the cost of bread soared. From taking 50% of the average working man’s wages it went up to 88%. The result? The French Revolution. The economists Helge Berger and Mark Spoerer have pinned the European revolutions of 1848 on the soaring price of wheat. Likewise, a shortage of food and soaring prices led to strikes in Petrograd in 1917 — and sparked the Russian Revolution.
So there isn’t any question that food inflation can create revolts. There are other factors at play as well, of course. The Swiss don’t take to the barricades when the price of fondue goes through the roof. It usually takes a repressive regime, a rising middle class, a lot of unemployment and an aging leader who has gotten out of touch to complete the picture.
But soaring food prices are often the spark: once that is lit, the flames take hold.
Nor can it be disputed that food is rising in price right now. The U.S. is set to have a poor harvest this year because of a widespread drought. So will Russia and the Ukraine, both massive wheat producers.
The federal reserve is buying billions in junk usa bonds each month and billions in bad mortgage debt, yes, your food will cost more and te drought has nothing to do with it, all obama taxes and heath care, pluse cost of illegals is paid for by the consumer. More obama phones for Latinos is the new call.
ZitatGreece is the second possibility. Unemployment is now at 27%. Many people are on the breadline — and bread is about to get a lot costlier. There are increasing reports of people having to rely on food handout in Athens and other major cities. Taxes are constantly being pushed higher to meet the deficit targets and wages are still being cut and jobs slashed. More expensive food could easily be the spark for an extremist party to seize power and take the country out of the euro.
I don't know how Greece counts unemployment. But in the US if you count all those who need full time work you go over 20%
Quote: algernonpj wrote in post #3I found the following interesting:
ZitatGreece is the second possibility. Unemployment is now at 27%. Many people are on the breadline — and bread is about to get a lot costlier. There are increasing reports of people having to rely on food handout in Athens and other major cities. Taxes are constantly being pushed higher to meet the deficit targets and wages are still being cut and jobs slashed. More expensive food could easily be the spark for an extremist party to seize power and take the country out of the euro.
I don't know how Greece counts unemployment. But in the US if you count all those who need full time work you go over 20%
Other factors cited resemble ours as well.
Convinced me, the way to fix this is 20 million more illegals.