Sunday, May 18, 2008

Let's Starve Some More Children

This is from the EU Referendum.
If you care about starving people, read this post in its entirety.

We do not have a food crisis. We have a political crisis.

The point that emerges from this is the cause of what turns out to be a "perceived" shortage is in fact an artificially induced phenomenon, arising entirely out of subsidy and trade distortions, overlaid with a heavy dose of politics.And from that, the lessons are clear. If market mechanisms are allowed to work, agriculture is well able to feed the current world population, and accommodate population growth for the foreseeable future. The only thing standing in the way of that are the politicians. We do not have a food crisis – we have a political crisis.

I repeat....We do not have a food crisis. We have a political crisis. The situation described in that Sunday Times article is both terrifying and infuriating.

Japan, through an insane trade agreement, is
1) forced to accept our rice, despite
2) having plenty of rice, but we don't allow them to
3) sell the rice, so therefore the rice usually
4) rots.

Good Lord in Heaven..... and this is the heavily subsidized rice that miraculously escaped being turned into ethanol.

This situation is probably irreversible, so please don't get worked up over it.

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