dagblog - Comments for "What does it mean when you don't find something to eat?"

Krugman blames climate:So

Donal — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:45:52 +0000

In reply to It might be a confluence of

Krugman blames climate:

So what’s behind the price spike? American right-wingers (and the Chinese) blame easy-money policies at the Federal Reserve, with at least one commentator declaring that there is “blood on Bernanke’s hands.” Meanwhile, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France blames speculators, accusing them of “extortion and pillaging.” But the evidence tells a different, much more ominous story. While several factors have contributed to soaring food prices, what really stands out is the extent to which severe weather events have disrupted agricultural production. And these severe weather events are exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see as rising concentrations of greenhouse gases change our climate — which means that the current food price surge may be just the beginning.

At Automatic Earth, Ilargi blames speculation, or Zombie Money:

Food prices are rising ... because we have elected to kill off the principles of our own western economic systems, which were once supposed to be based on free market ideas, that dictate that success is rewarded and failure punished. ...

The consequence is that the zombie money is now allowed to drive up food prices to levels which make sure that millions of people around the world will go hungry, and will revolt as a result of that. Blankfein, Dimon et al have long since realized that they can't maintain their velvet “God's work" thrones just by robbing Americans of all they're worth. Their losses are far too great. They need to have access to everyone's wealth all over the world.

And since oil and food are traded on international commodity markets, and they have gotten hold of all the money America is worth, and then some, they can play these markets as much as they want, whether it’s wheat or natural gas or gold. People like to claim that gold will rise as the US dollar becomes worth less, but they forget that it’s zombie money that has been buying gold, and that has thus lifted gold prices. Once daylight comes and the zombies are gone, there's only one way left to go for gold prices too.

Shouldn’t WE the People

Resistance — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:01:54 +0000

In reply to What does it mean when you don't find something to eat?

Shouldn’t WE the People become familiar with what our rights are under Marshall law?

I prefer to know, that the Private First Class, knows what the heck he’s doing and that he’s handling the law aright.

But I guess “the man with the gun over there” Rules; so don’t “step out of line”.

What’s the line that I shouldn’t step out of?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5M_Ttstbgs

Thanks Donal for this link ....I put John Michael Greer's article, Overcoming Systems Stupidity

Excerpts

Lao Tsu’s Tao Te Ching. ....."The Book of Integral Process" is a good translation of the title.
Chapter I: A process as described is not the process as it exists;
The terms used to describe it are not the things they describe.
That which evades description is the wholeness of the system;
The act of description is merely a listing of its parts.......
Without intentionality, you can experience the whole system;......
With intentionality, you can comprehend its effects…….”

If the public gets restless

Beetlejuice — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:29:33 +0000

In reply to For those not familiar with

If the public gets restless whether over gas prices or food prices and/or shortages of either or both, the Federal government now has the authority to send in the military troops to keep order using battle-proven equipment meant for nulifying military forces. Our tax dollars hard at work, perfected on the battlefield so as to yield instaneous results against the homefront. We may be transitioning from a Tango Uniform situation to a FUBAR one depending on what Wall Street and the GOPer's in Congress do.

You quote The Economist's Max

acanuck — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:21:52 +0000

In reply to What does it mean when you don't find something to eat?

You quote The Economist's Max Rodenbeck. Totally OT, but his now-decade-old book, Cairo: The City Victorious, is probably the definitive historical portrait of a city that he loves and considers his home. I dug out my copy as the current unpleasantness erupted. Very readable.

For those not familiar with

Verified Atheist — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:10:18 +0000

In reply to This is a simple cut-n-paste

For those not familiar with the lingo, I thought I'd provide the following:

Tango Uniform = Tits Up = broken and cannot be fixed

This is a simple cut-n-paste

Beetlejuice — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:01:42 +0000

In reply to What does it mean when you don't find something to eat?

This is a simple cut-n-paste from wikipedia, but it's the answer to your question you don't want to hear. Bu$h had some forewarning about the financial collapse and possibilities that could happen coincidentially so he took precausions in case things when Tango Uniform before he left office.

Posse Comitatus Act

The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress.

Homeland security

On October 1, 2008, the US Army announced that the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command (NORTHCOM), as an on-call federal response force for natural or man-made emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

This marks the first time an active U.S. Army unit will be given a dedicated assignment to NORTHCOM, where it is stated they may be "called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive (CBRNE) attack." These soldiers will also learn how to use non-lethal weapons designed to "subdue unruly or dangerous individuals" without killing them, and also includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and beanbag bullets.^[9] However, the "non-lethal crowd control package [...] is intended for use on deployments to the war zone, not in the U.S. [...]".^[9]

It might be a confluence of

Donal — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:36:49 +0000

In reply to Donal, do you think this is

It might be a confluence of QE2, oil prices and and a particularly unsuccessful year of farming. But while QE2 may end, and oil prices may decline, climate change will stay with us for a long time.

Donal, do you think this is

Michael Maiello — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:20:13 +0000

In reply to What does it mean when you don't find something to eat?

Donal, do you think this is all just a temporary effect of the Fed's liquidity program? The Fed pumps money into the banking system. Banks want returns. They don't want to lend the dollars to unemployed Americans, though. So they're investing in emerging markets companies and sovereign debt. Emerging markets tend to be commodities producers, so that's a lot of money going into the production of commodities and the assets are all getting bid up. Eventually, somebody will borrow too much money to try and take advantage of this, their scheme will collapse and prices will come back down to Earth. Oh, and when that happens it will suck to live in an emerging economy.