Americans are grumbling about the escalating price of gasoline. By comparison the recent increases in food prices are viewed as a minor annoyance by many here in America, but the highest food commodity prices ever seen are pushing ten of millions of the world's poorest people to the very brink of survival.
Food Prices Hit Record High, Spurring Worries About Global Unrest
By NATHANIAL GRONEWOLD
Published: March 3, 2011
UNITED NATIONS -- Food prices are continuing their global surge, raising the specter of unrest in developing nations.
The global food price index hit a new record high for the third straight month, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said today. The index averaged 236 points in February, 2.2 percent higher than the previous all-time high set in January.
"Raising the specter"? Hello! I think the specter has already arisen in North Africa the Middle East.
This comes from Foreign Policy:
The Psychology of Food Riots
The year 2010 was a tough one for the global food system. Wildfires, fueled by record temperatures and a summer drought, burned away much of Russia's wheat harvest, spurring the Kremlin to halt exports. Throughout the fall, commodities prices skyrocketed. The United Nations panicked and called an emergency summit in September. World food prices rose to a record high in December 2010. So far, 2011 has not been much better: in January, food prices were identified as one trigger for Tunisia's unrest as well as for riots across much of northern Africa, including Egypt, a country that depends heavily on Russian grain. It seems that a food crisis along the lines of the one in 2008, when rioters in dozens of countries furiously protested the price of grain, might again be in the works.
Assuming a connection among rising prices, hunger, and violent civic unrest seems logical. Many commentators have emphasized it, including Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who warned of mass starvation and other "dire consequences" if food prices were allowed to rise too high: "As we know . . . those kinds of questions sometimes end in war."
Moral outrage is a common theme in the history of food riots. In fact, the story of the food riots in Cameroon aligns neatly with that of the 1917 food riots in New York City, which managed to bring commerce and retail to a standstill in February and March.
The hidden roots of Egypt's despair
As Nouriel Roubini - who was among the first to predict the financial crisis while others were pooh-poohing him as "Dr Doom" - says, don't just look at the crowds in Cairo, but what is motivating them now after years of silence and repression.
He says that the dramatic rise in energy and food prices has become a major global threat and a leading factor that has gone largely unreported in the coverage of events in Egypt.
"What has happened in Tunisia is happening right now in Egypt, but also riots in Morocco, Algeria and Pakistan are related not only to high unemployment rates and to income and wealth inequality, but also to this very sharp rise in food and commodity prices," Roubini said.
For instance, prices in Egypt are up 17% because of a worldwide surge in commodity prices.
A picture speaks a thousand words and you should check out the picture of these food pice protesters in New Delhi.
Soaring Food Prices Tied in Part to Oil Prices
March 03, 2011
Soaring Food Prices Tied in Part to Oil Prices Food prices are at their highest levels since the FAO began monitoring prices two decades ago. The agency's senior grain economist, Abdolreza Abbassian, says except for sugar, the price of basic food commodities such as wheat, meat and dairy products has risen steadily since June.
"We are still in historic peaks. The February prices unfortunately rose even further, so whether you calculate it on real basis, inflation corrected, or nominal, the food prices, which are a measure of international prices for basic food commodities, have reach a new high, yes," Abbassian said.
Higher food prices were among the triggers for protests in Egypt and Tunisia.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture isn't the only origination that's alarmed by what's happening,
IMF: Extremely Concerned About Rising Food Prices Globally
MARCH 3, 2011, 11:10 A.M. ET
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The International Monetary Fund is "extremely concerned" about rising food prices, particularly for poor and low-income countries, IMF spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson said Thursday.
Atkinson advised governments to be very careful to target subsidies to the most vulnerable populations, and not products, and that central banks should "accommodate a first round impact of food prices with a focus on making sure that there isn't a longer-term impact in pushing up inflation on a permanent basis."
The Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is on the defensive with some critics saying his policy of "quantitative easing" is compounding the rise in prices.
Bernanke: Don't blame Federal Reserve for record-high food prices
World food prices notched a new high in February, adding to concerns that global inflation may be on the rise.
The news raises – again – a question that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke faced during testimony to Congress this week: Is the Fed to blame for price pressures?
Some of the most visible prices consumers face are on the rise, and the Fed has been pursuing a controversial economic stimulus policy of near-zero interest plus an unusual bond-purchase program known as "quantitative easing."
Economists widely agree that Fed policy isn't the only factor at play in prices for food, oil, and other goods.
There are a number of factors at work here. Fed Policy is just one. Climate Change is probably what literally burned much of Russia's wheat harvest halting Russian exports. Opportunistic speculators amplifying the jump in commodity prices.
Its difficult for most Americans to imagine that the record prices of staples is forcing millions of parents to make the stark choice between them eating or their children eating.