April 12, 2008

Food Shortages Herald "New Era Of Hunger"

As More Countries Suffer Riots Over Rising Prices And Shortages Of Staples, Aid Groups Call For Relief

  • Play CBS Video Video 'New Era Of Hunger' Looms

    Recently, over thirty countries have been hit with riots or violent protests due to the rising cost of food, leading a top U.N. official to predict a "new era of hunger." Michelle Miller reports.

  • A border guard sells rice at a government subsidized outlet at Nawabganj in Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 11, 2008. The price of food has skyrocketed around the world, leading to riots in some countries and fears of starvation in others. Experts say Bangladesh, a desperately poor and overpopulated nation, is one of the most vulnerable. Photo

    A border guard sells rice at a government subsidized outlet at Nawabganj in Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 11, 2008. The price of food has skyrocketed around the world, leading to riots in some countries and fears of starvation in others. Experts say Bangladesh, a desperately poor and overpopulated nation, is one of the most vulnerable.  (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman)

(CBS/AP)  A third day of riots in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, had by Friday paralyzed the city with looting and violence.

The toll includes a U.N. soldier who has been shot and killed in the capital while delivering food to his unit.

U.N. Mission spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe said the soldier was shot Saturday afternoon and that he was a member of a 1,000-strong unit that deals with riots.

She said U.N. troops did not exchange fire, but had no further details.

The demonstrations began earlier in the week, in protest against rising food prices, and turned into riots.

The looting has made access to food even more difficult, doing little to ease widespread hunger among Haitians.

Port-au-Prince hospitals were filled with people injured in the riots, being treated by volunteers from the organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).

Wagner Pierre, who works for Medecins Sans Frontieres, said many of the wounds they were seeing were a result of bullets.

"In the last 4 days we have received 160 wounded, 40 of which were from gun bullet wounds," said Wagner.

Many of the injured were bystanders caught in crossfire, like David Saint Felix, who was wounded in the leg during the protests.

"I was passing through the Haitian marine base looking for my brother who was in the protests, when I was hit with a bullet in my leg," said Saint Felix.

The fighting across the capital was punctuated with calls for the Haitian president's resignation.

This afternoon, a Haitian senator said that parliament has voted to dismiss Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.

President Rene Preval announced a drop in the price of rice Saturday in a bid to defuse anger over rising food prices.

After meeting with food importers in the national palace, Preval said the price of a 50-pound bag of rice will drop from US$51 to US$43 - a reduction of 15.7 percent.

The Haitian president said the government will use international aid money to subsidize the price of rice and that the private sector has agreed to knock US$3 off the price of each bag. Preval did not say when the price reduction would go into effect.

Preval also said he would ask Venezuela for help, especially about providing fertilizer for struggling farmers.

The announcements come in the wake of looting and clashes between hundreds of protesters and U.N. peacekeepers earlier this week. Protesters blame the government for failing to create jobs and control soaring food prices and some demonstrators called for Preval's resignation. The violence left at least five people dead.

On Saturday, U.N. military commander Maj. Gen. Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz told The Associated Press that calm was returning across the country, with some transportation resuming and people going back to work.

The U.N. commander said that several social, economic and political changes are still needed in Haiti to maintain the present calm and address the increased cost of living. Cruz did not provide specifics.

"It is important for the people to have a peaceful life in Haiti," Santos Cruz said.

The U.S.-backed president has pledged to build up Haitian agriculture and make the country more self-sufficient.

But food prices have risen 40 percent globally since mid-2007.

Haiti, the poorest country in the northern hemisphere, has been hit especially hard because it imports nearly all of its food, and most people live on less than two U.S. dollars a day.

Haiti's food problems are, sadly, not isolated to the Caribbean nation.

A Growing Worldwide Problem

There have been riots in Bangladesh, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal. Rising prices have hit poor countries like Peru (and even developed countries like Italy and the United States).

A confluence of problems are driving the problem. They include soaring petroleum prices, which increase the cost of fertilizers, transport and food processing; rising demand for meat and dairy in China and India, resulting in increased costs for grain, used for cattle feed; and the ever-rising demand for raw materials to make biofuels.

As of December, 37 countries faced food crises, and 20 had imposed some sort of food-price controls. The U.N.'s World Food Program says it's facing a $500 million shortfall in funding this year to feed 89 million needy people.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned that prices could continue to rise for several years.

"This is not a this-year phenomenon," Zoellick said.

The World Food Program blames soaring food prices on a convergence of rising energy costs, natural disasters linked to climate change, and competition for grain used to make bio-fuels like ethanol.

Program spokesperson Benita Luescher told CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller, "What we're seeing is a perfect storm."

On Friday, the Group of 24 Developing Countries urged advanced nations to step up financial aid to help them deal with the severe impact of higher food and energy prices and the turmoil in global financial markets.

The G-24 said that coordinated international action is needed to prevent the emergence of a larger crisis, and agreed the International Monetary Fund has an important role in responding to the current crisis. They also urged the IMF's sister institution, the World Bank, to increase advice and financial support.

Jean-Claude Masangu-Mulongo, chairman of the G-24 and governor of Congo's central bank, said the world was facing "an unprecedented financial crisis that began ... in the heart of the system, the United States, and is spreading."

He said a coordinated and collective international response led by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund is needed.

The G-24 communique was unusual in the amount of advice it offered advanced countries. Usually the communiques speak of how the G-24 will deal with recommendations it receives from the rich countries and the international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. Ministers in several developing countries have noted smugly in recent months that the current crisis did not originate in one of their countries, as happened in the late 1990s, but in the United States, which enjoys the world's largest economy.

The G-24 welcomed a proposal made last month by the World Bank's Zoellick for a "New Deal for a Global Food Policy" to combat hunger and malnutrition through a combination of emergency aid and long-term efforts to boost agricultural productivity.

Continued



© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Add a Comment See all 124 Comments
by barbaraf4 April 12, 2008 1:42 PM PDT
"Food prices have risen 40 percent globally since mid-2007."
~~~~~~~~~~~
What percentage has the population grown during that same period?

We can barely afford to feed ourselves under the Bush administration. We cannot be expected to feed the rest of the world.
Reply to this comment
by missingamerica April 12, 2008 1:44 PM PDT
Hey, do you suppose Bill Clinton, the Bushes, and the other "free traders" will be eager to take the credit for the dramatic increases in global hunger that their trade policies have ensured are on the horizon?

lollll...not that it matters to them - it never was about doing the right thing by America''s or the world''s peoples....it was and is just about profit.
Reply to this comment
by tracy1morgan April 12, 2008 1:56 PM PDT
This is all the libs fault. Farm land that was used for growing crops for food is being converted to growing crops for biofuels.
Reply to this comment
by ubrew12 April 12, 2008 2:11 PM PDT
Texas rice ''farmers'' get so much money from the government they don''t need to grow anything. Something like $1.5 billion from the last Farm Bill.

We also give US cotton growers billions of our tax dollars to grow a crop they CANT grow profitably. In California, they live in one of the richest counties in the country as a result.

Add the fiction called corn ethanol, and thats why food prices are so high.
Reply to this comment
by libsrweak April 12, 2008 2:15 PM PDT
the liberals have the answer to this...a concert...
Reply to this comment
by inverse137 April 12, 2008 2:21 PM PDT
But on a positive note: Americans are still getting fatter!
Reply to this comment
by bgwinnett April 12, 2008 2:27 PM PDT
Too many people on the Planet.Eugenics a on wide scale will be put into practice this Century.
Reply to this comment
by andrew_693 April 12, 2008 2:42 PM PDT
the solution offered by the republicons? ...... well starvation and destruction of humanity is their plan actually......so there is no solution. Their solution is "stay the course till jesus comes and gets you"
Reply to this comment
by ubrew12 April 12, 2008 2:42 PM PDT
libsrweak said: "the liberals have the answer to this...a concert..."
Don''t knock it. Hundreds of millions of dollars to the right causes.

Your solution no doubt is like bgwinnetts, genocide.
Reply to this comment
by ms38654ob April 12, 2008 2:45 PM PDT
I just can''t sympathize with these people. If they wouldn''t breed out of control, they wouldn''t have the food problem.

I don''t see this as a problem the US has to be involved with either. It might sound cold, but survival of the fittest is the rule of the jungle.
Reply to this comment
by bgwinnett April 12, 2008 2:46 PM PDT
Your solution no doubt is like bgwinnetts, genocide.

Posted by ubrew12 at 02:42 PM : Apr 12, 2008

Not my solution, just calling what''s gonna happen, we will all be effected by eugenics any way not just the Third World.
Reply to this comment
by andrew_693 April 12, 2008 2:49 PM PDT
the solution offered by the republicons? ...... well starvation and destruction of humanity is their plan actually......so there is no solution. Their solution is "stay the course till jesus comes and gets you"
Reply to this comment
by tbweb April 12, 2008 2:52 PM PDT
I''ve been waiting for this! Reality check! I''ve been saying this from the beginning, U.S. Food should keep pace with the price of oil as food is more powerful than oil. The U.S. is too nice, let them eat oil. If oil is $100 a barrel, food should be $100 a bushel, seems easy enough to me!
Reply to this comment
by andrew_693 April 12, 2008 2:54 PM PDT
Question for god squad, a.k.a the republicons. What would jesus do with the poor in the world? would he transform rocks into bread to feed the poor and sympathize with them ? or would he say "survival of the fittest, screw them and help the rich and those that one most of the wealth in this world."?
Reply to this comment
by forthepeopl1 April 12, 2008 2:58 PM PDT
LET THE ELITES KNOW THAT WE HAVE AN END GAME TOO %u2026

1) CANCEL YOUR CABLE / SATTELITE TV: let the corporate media moguls (and their advertisers) know that you will no longer pay for their propaganda (and useless products).

2) DIVEST FROM WALL ("WAR") STREET : the banking ELITE are systematically selling out the middle class to the lowest global bidder yet they still demand the average taxpayer to bail them out when times are tough.. start your own HEDGE FUND and invest in land, GOLD and SILVER.

3) START YOUR OWN BANK - buy a fire safe and fill it w/ cash/coin/metals etc.. don%u2019t empower the banking ELITE to do funny things with YOUR MONEY.

4) SUPPORT & DEVELOP LOCAL ECONOMIES !
- support local ORGANIC growers or GROW some of your own FOOD;
- implement ALTERNATIVE ENERGY sources (wood, solar, hybrid autos etc ..)
- develop LOCAL means of commerce not based on fraudulent Federal Reserve Notes.

5) AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE BEGINS WITH YOU - healthy eating habits and exercise will create less demand on the system meaning lower costs. You%u2019ll have plenty of time to work out once you UNPLUG THE TV DRUG.

6) STOP UNNECESSARY CONSUMPTION & STOP USING YOUR CREDIT CARD !

7) DECENTRALIZE ! - the global economy is nothing more than a ploy to centralize power, control and wealth into the hands of an elite few - blinded by misinformation, the American people are buying right into it - the rich get richer and the middle class is quickly becoming the working poor.

Reply to this comment
by trishab4 April 12, 2008 2:58 PM PDT
the solution offered by the republicons? ...... well starvation and destruction of humanity is their plan actually......so there is no solution. Their solution is "stay the course till jesus comes and gets you"
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Posted by andrew_693 at 02:49 PM : Apr 12, 2008

-Jesus will be accused of Anti-Semitism. When he''ll see Zionism/Elitism/SavageCapitalism is just another flaw of Humanity going injust as it used to be in Romans''s time! Would you come back if you were to be tried for that and jailed?
Reply to this comment
by randynason April 12, 2008 3:00 PM PDT
Heaven forbid the U.S. and other more advanced nations educate the underprivileged about *** education. Remember, it was the church that told the people to multiply and discouraged contraception technique. It is always the poorest of the poor that suffers the most. For others to say that these people deserve the misfortune that befalls them have fallen prey to the savage, inhumane ethic that currently manages this government.
Reply to this comment
by libsrweak April 12, 2008 3:00 PM PDT
Posted by andrew_693 at 02:54 PM : Apr 12, 2008
+ report abuse

**********

I think jesus would say...BE ACCOUNTABLE AND RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS..you cant feed your ownself..dont have anymore babies..to think past your the typical liberal "I" priority..if your future is threatened, FIGHT so the future for your children would be bright..

these bleeding heart liberals had and is still trying to save africa following the "I" mindset since the 1970s..well how did we progress with that?? in deeper sh*t than ever??
Reply to this comment
by tbweb April 12, 2008 3:00 PM PDT
Question for god squad, a.k.a the republicons. What would jesus do with the poor in the world? would he transform rocks into bread to feed the poor and sympathize with them ? or would he say "survival of the fittest, screw them and help the rich and those that one most of the wealth in this world."?

Posted by andrew_693 at 02:54 PM : Apr 12, 2008,,,

The U.S. always attempts to feed the poor, always! But as we all know the U.S. is not allowed to enter many of these nations and hand out food, the U.S. has to give the food it donates to a nations government and those governments steal the food, feed their armies instead and the poor continue to suffer! So in many cases because of corruption the U.S. doesn''t deliver any food at all because the food never reaches its intended destination!
Reply to this comment
by bgwinnett April 12, 2008 3:03 PM PDT
This Global Economic crisis looks like something thats been engineered by the financial and political Elite to enable them to implement their Social Darwinism theories.Survival of the fittest they will expect, along with the fattest of the fat cats.
Reply to this comment
by hypnotoad72 April 12, 2008 3:06 PM PDT
I don''''t see this as a problem the US has to be involved with either. It might sound cold, but survival of the fittest is the rule of the jungle.

Posted by ms38654ob
-----------------------

Ah, but would you act, cheat, lie, steal... kill?... to feign fitness?

Indeed, define "fit".

Look outside your window; is it a bunch of trees and monkeys? Then it''s not a jungle.

We''re humanity, we''re supposed to be better than a bunch of animals.
Reply to this comment
by trishab4 April 12, 2008 3:08 PM PDT
The U.S. always attempts to feed the poor, always! But as we all know the U.S. is not allowed to enter many of these nations and hand out food, the U.S. has to give the food it donates to a nations government and those governments steal the food, feed their armies instead and the poor continue to suffer! So in many cases because of corruption the U.S. doesn''''t deliver any food at all because the food never reaches its intended destination!
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Posted by tbweb at 03:00 PM : Apr 12, 2008

-Most regimes planted and supported by USA... don''t deny it. That is the preferred way of opening markets of consumers nd getting their resources in order to transform them and resell them at a higher (read unaffordable) price... That is the IMF policy.
Reply to this comment
by hypnotoad72 April 12, 2008 3:09 PM PDT
Don''''t worry, Jesus will come and save you!!!....
Oh, wait a minute,.....they''''re Hindus and Muslims,....
Sorry about your luck, people,....you''''re gonna'''' die!!!
You chose the wrong country to be born in, idiots!!!

Posted by singinrich
--------------------

Or have no religion, which could (or not) be why they can introduce poor or deadly products into the world''s market and get away with it; when their ally Russia started whining over the same slop everyone else has been getting, that should have been conclusive proof there are serious problems.

Whether or not there''s some "conspiracy theory" or not is another argument; especially when those that claim it don''t bother to cite any facts. And whatever our fate is; that''s what it is.
Reply to this comment
by ringading3 April 12, 2008 3:09 PM PDT
And now we are beginning to see food prices rise because the politicians have decided to pay farmers to sell their wheat and corn to produce ethanol! What stupidity, when we have more than enough oil in the USA! NIMBY nuts are preventing us from drilling and refining our own oil. Time to let the politicians feel the voters wrath!
Reply to this comment
by trishab4 April 12, 2008 3:20 PM PDT
when we have more than enough oil in the USA! NIMBY nuts are preventing us from drilling and refining our own oil. Time to let the politicians feel the voters wrath!
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Posted by RingADing3 at 03:09 PM : Apr 12, 2008

-You put your finger on the right button here. Actualy all efforts made in order to convert Food into bio-diesel are doomed. matter of fact: the engines are gonna compete against humans for the food resources. And humans are gonna win, obviously...

-Politicians should plan and manage what cannot be depleted in organic form; renewable energy resource, equivalent to the quantity of minimal sun lighting energy, daily. Use the Carbon masses released in the air from combustion engines and return it as a reserve at Humans'' reach under the shape of liquid gas or bio-fuel. This very technology should be developed, and made available to Humans in order to transform the Sun''s energy into a sizable, consumable energy.
Reply to this comment
by andrew_693 April 12, 2008 3:24 PM PDT
yeah, those armies of corrupt countries that don''t allow us in to feed the poor and the innocent don''t have anything to do with us the US. We never supported Saddam Hussein, we never called the Taliban Freedom Fighters and armed them nor did we allow them to rule afghanistan, the US doesn''t support the genocide of peasants commited by the colombian government up to this day, they never supported dictatorships that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people that didn''t have anything to do with communism, like the Sha in Iran, like Pinochet in Chile, the argentine military junta, Somoza in Nicaragua, the drugdealers that run Mexico every election, we don''t support China amd we don''t look the other way while they commit killings in Tibet right now under the Bush administration, we don''t do business with China etc...............yeah, keep dreaming that the US has nothing to do.
Reply to this comment
by andrew_693 April 12, 2008 3:25 PM PDT
yeah, those armies of corrupt countries that don''t allow us in to feed the poor and the innocent don''t have anything to do with us the US. We never supported Saddam Hussein, we never called the Taliban Freedom Fighters and armed them nor did we allow them to rule afghanistan, the US doesn''t support the genocide of peasants commited by the colombian government up to this day, they never supported dictatorships that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people that didn''t have anything to do with communism, like the Sha in Iran, like Pinochet in Chile, the argentine military junta, Somoza in Nicaragua, the drugdealers that run Mexico every election, we don''t support China amd we don''t look the other way while they commit killings in Tibet right now under the Bush administration, we don''t do business with China etc...............yeah, keep dreaming that the US has nothing to do.
Reply to this comment
by prairiefox1 April 12, 2008 3:29 PM PDT
WITH THE MONEY HUNGRY FARMERS USING THEIR CROPS TO MAKE A FUEL SUBSTITUTE I DO HOPE THAT EVERY DOLLAR THEY GET FOR THIS HAS THE COUNT OF HOW MANY LIVES THAT WERE LOST FOR THEIR GREED! OUR SURPLUS FOODS USED TO FEED THESE PEOPLE BUT NO MORE AND WHEN THIS TREND SPREADS TO THIS COUNTRY I WILL BE WILLING TO READ ABOUT THE GREEDY BEING KILLED FOR NOT BEING A SERVICE TO HUMAN SURVIVAL! JUST WAIT AND SEE! IT IS COMING!
Reply to this comment
by underdogus April 12, 2008 3:32 PM PDT
You chose the wrong country to be born in, idiots!!!
Posted by singinrich...what goes around comes around watch your head........
Reply to this comment
by andrew_693 April 12, 2008 3:45 PM PDT
the US has nothing to do with the 2 million refugees escaping iraq right now, our invasion had nothing to do with the current situation.....yeah right! How stupid some people must be to say that we don''t have anything to do with the world situation right now. Because of us supporting the sadistic democratically elected Saudi Royals, 15, mostly saudi nationals brought down the twin towers. Afterwards, in retaliation for an attack cooked in Afghanistan by saudis, we decided to invade Iraq, a country who considers the saudis enmies, brilliant!. Now 2 million people lost their house in iraq to the US and their friends from Al Quaeda and an insurgency that didn''t exist before the invasion. We don''t have anything to do with poverty and destabilization of that region ??? It was the colonial powers from Europe that destroyed Africa, through the slave traffic, through the exploitation in the diamond mines, etc....they created a new form of slavery and to keep their slaves in line so they created an army and supported dictatorships that run those countries. WE are the problem.
Reply to this comment
by raskal_2 April 12, 2008 4:00 PM PDT
...In population studies and modeling of populations there is a concept that is equated as a variable. It is known as the carrying capacity. At some point in the run of a population study, be it fruit fly or bobcat, or any organic species there is a point where food supply or habitat limitations start to limit population growth. This limitation is the carrying capacity. It happens in every population model study. Any one else thinking that the population of humans on this planet may be approaching a carrying capacity?
Reply to this comment
by raskal_2 April 12, 2008 4:03 PM PDT
...In population studies and modeling of populations there is a concept that is equated as a variable. It is known as the carrying capacity. At some point in the run of a population study, be it fruit fly or bobcat, or any organic species there is a point where food supply or habitat limitations start to limit population growth. This limitation is the carrying capacity. It happens in every population model study. Any one else thinking that the population of humans on this planet may be approaching a carrying capacity?
Reply to this comment
by veteran72 April 12, 2008 4:33 PM PDT
Fatasssed American Retardds will continue in their mindless stupor until the NWO eliminates them.
They don''t make good slaves and they''re pretty much useless from the judgment of the Ruling Elite.
Extermination by waterborne viruses will be quick and efficient, leaving plenty of raw material for fertilizer and animal food.
So long, morons.
Reply to this comment
by tucano2 April 12, 2008 5:16 PM PDT
There we go! It''s vehicle fuel or it''s food. Pick one.
Reply to this comment
by ms38654ob April 12, 2008 5:19 PM PDT
Look outside your window; is it a bunch of trees and monkeys? Then it''s not a jungle.

We''re humanity, we''re supposed to be better than a bunch of animals.

Posted by hypnotoad72

Do animals slaughter each other for the benefit of a few in power? I think not. No, we are not better than animals, we are worse.

As for the definition of "fit" in this case: Those who can obtain enough food to survive do, those that can''t don''t. It''s quite simple.
Reply to this comment
by liberalme April 12, 2008 5:20 PM PDT
Don''''''''t worry, Jesus will come and save you!!!....
Oh, wait a minute,.....they''''''''re Hindus and Muslims,....
Sorry about your luck, people,....you''''''''re gonna'''''''' die!!!
You chose the wrong country to be born in, idiots!!!

Posted by singinrich
--------------------

Judgmental hypocrite!
Reply to this comment
by element51 April 12, 2008 5:28 PM PDT
Get ready for food shortages the likes of which you cannot inagine. The food will be there, you just won''t be able to pay for it. The use of corn and wheat to produce bio fuels is so completely stupid that comment is useless. Next week, congress will draft and pass a NEW farm bill that will put even more money in the pockets of the rich and will put more land out of production. While there may be a few politicians who will try to stand against this it will be to no avail. All accross the nation food pantries are getting less and less to feed more and more. They are almost at a breaking point. I''m not talking about dead beats who are getting a free ride...I''m talking about people who are doing the best they can and still falling short. Children are going to bed hungry and this administration doesn''t care. They continue to do everything they can for the elite. Some say let''s take to the streets and take back the country. Noble words but try it and you will see very quickly what Blackwater is really all about. In conclusion, there was a board on here today where people were criticizing Jimmy Carter. That''s OK, he was not a great president but he did try to warn us back in the 70''s about the oil situation. The result was that Reagan took office and we did nothing about alternate fuel sources. Look at where we are now. Maybe we should have listened way back then.
Reply to this comment
by prinzowhales April 12, 2008 5:28 PM PDT
''Century of Hunger''?---Well, let''s see: How much more acreage is going to be taken out of food production so that ethanol can be produced? How many acres will be left idle and their owners paid NOT to produce? Better yet, let''s call "Century of Hunger by Design"...
Reply to this comment
by mcv57 April 12, 2008 5:40 PM PDT
You know the White House and NSA has been keeping this WORLD HUNGER issue under raps - the Haitians are eating mudd cookies for sometime now. Now the present monopoly system has effected the Asia region.

I can see Russia and China (rivals) necessity for an Alliance. The food and financial calamity will force war upon the U.S. to maintain power and wealth. Won''t be too long now . . . say about 2012 is the climax.

P.S. Hey stupid Bush, they will make their move when they have their technology updated to destroy your spacestation arsenal.
Reply to this comment
by mcv57 April 12, 2008 5:47 PM PDT
You know the White House and NSA has been keeping this WORLD HUNGER issue under raps - the Haitians are eating mudd cookies for sometime now. Now the present monopoly system has effected the Asia region.

I can see Russia and China (rivals) necessity for an Alliance. The food and financial calamity will force war upon the U.S. to maintain power and wealth. Won''''t be too long now . . . say about 2012 is the climax.

P.S. Hey stupid Bush, they will make their move when they have their technology updated to destroy your spacestation arsenal.

Posted by mcv57

... with many unemployed engineers and IT professionals soon to be out of work. They will soon are own technology and development against us stupid Bush.
Reply to this comment
by mcv57 April 12, 2008 5:50 PM PDT
You know the White House and NSA has been keeping this WORLD HUNGER issue under raps - the Haitians are eating mudd cookies for sometime now. Now the present monopoly system has effected the Asia region.

I can see Russia and China (rivals) necessity for an Alliance. The food and financial calamity will force war upon the U.S. to maintain power and wealth. Won''''''''t be too long now . . . say about 2012 is the climax.

P.S. Hey stupid Bush, they will make their move when they have their technology updated to destroy your spacestation arsenal.

Posted by mcv57

... with many unemployed engineers and IT professionals soon to be out of work. They will soon use our own technology and development against us stupid Bush.

I can almost swear this grapy post comment does this on purpose - omit words, change wording.
Reply to this comment
by liberalme April 12, 2008 6:06 PM PDT
Pssssst, liberalme,....that woooooshing sound was my post going over your head......
It''''s called satire......
singingrick is dead, long live singinrich, his evil twin athiest brother....
Posted by singinrich at 05:41 PM : Apr 12, 2008
+ report abuse

Oh so sorry---you look so much alike, I get you both confused! lol
Reply to this comment
by ontheleft April 12, 2008 6:14 PM PDT
''More Countries Suffer Riots Over Rising Prices''

How soon will the riots over food happen in America? When milk reaches $6 a gallon?

At least someone benefits as the poor get poorer: the rich get richer. Cut their taxes even more and maybe this time some will trickle down.
Reply to this comment
by mcv57 April 12, 2008 6:41 PM PDT
At least someone benefits as the poor get poorer: the rich get richer. Cut their taxes even more and maybe this time some will trickle down.

Posted by ontheleft

Did you know this "trickle down" economic philosophy was not Reagan''s nor his administration. Its was Hoover''s idealogy! That is why Pres. Hoover never release his NEW DEAL plan - Pres. Roosvelt stole it.
Hoover lost the second term because of the Republican idealogy.

Due to the ignorance of the masses in America during the Reagan Administration, the Trickle Down was nothing more than Nazis Economics were the rich got richer; and government spending was billed on the backs of the U.S. taxpayer. Hilter sieze other countries to pay for his government debt.
Reply to this comment
by mcv57 April 12, 2008 6:44 PM PDT
Bush is a mass murder, maybe even worst then Hitler.
Reply to this comment
by zykracosmos April 12, 2008 7:02 PM PDT
This is an awful problem but easy to understand. Thirty years ago we had half as many people on this planet. The earth is the same size as it was 5 billion years ago. Today 40% of the world''s people go to bed without enough to eat. 25% are actually severely malnourished or starving. Global population is well beyond sustainable levels, and at this point there is absolutely no way to stop starvation, pandemic diseases, fighting on regional levels, and finally economic anarchy. We''ve outstripped our food supply and farmland is being laid to waste from over cultivation, fisheries are being wiped out by factory vessels, and the shrinking elite are even using up remaining food supplies to produce fuel for the cars (Brazil, America). This is a real simply problem folks. We voluntarily reduce our numbers, or nature will do it for us (and is already well on the way.)
Reply to this comment
by artinmay April 12, 2008 7:25 PM PDT


hey U.S.A.,Your the strongest,most developed,most advanced country on this globe. You have every right to lead this world into the future. But do it for the right reasons or we''re all doomed. HEY AMERICAN, ARE YOU LISTENING.
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by sumarongi April 12, 2008 7:33 PM PDT
A problem that is going to get much worse before it gets better, if it does. Increasing disputes over water rights and changing weather patterns may be the proverbial monkey wrench in the works. Irrigation may be one of the critical choke points. In water supply logistics, the country or other entity upstream has the upper hand. When the upstream communities require more water those downstream are on the losing end of the supply line. Less water means fewer crops and water rationing. Lifestyles are ruined and costs rise for everything.
We can live without oil. Although it is critical to the world in it''s own way, it is not critical for survival. Water is that critical. Take oil away and you have hardship. Take water away and you have death.
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by mcv57 April 12, 2008 7:42 PM PDT
Posted by Kcain22
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by johnny_chaos April 12, 2008 7:42 PM PDT
sweet, an end to fatties!
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