Some of the rise in wheat prices in the US is to be expected based on the global issue of reduced grain stocks and the subsequent impact on the market LINK, however the majority of the price increases have been based on rising fuel prices and the Bush administration’s illogical decision to use corn as the primary ingredient in ethanol production. The huge corporate farmers that have turned to corn production, as well as many of our struggling smaller farms who have been spurning wheat, is directly affecting the cost of America’s prime food staple, wheat, which is used in the primary foods that drive this nation. Our own grain stocks are at a historic low, and if any of the government’s fears are realized, i.e., pandemic, terrorist attack resulting in martial law, natural disaster, or an epic economic crisis (which I believe is our most pressing issue), the nation only has an estimated food supply on hand that will last the nation 60 days or less. Without a question, even placing aside the enormous cost and suffering to the public, the situation isn’t likely to improve any time soon. LINK The trickle-down effect is that many families are cutting-down on purchases of beef, pork and chicken, all which have experienced price increases due to the rising cost of corn, also a staple for feeding livestock. Besides meats, the effects are also being felt on all dairy products as well as eggs and cereal, basically every essential food item that are the staples of many American diets.
Then, in a remarkable bit of timing, Time Magazine recently reprinted this article, which was originally published on Monday, Mar. 31, 1941:
Food: A Weapon
For the U. S., food distribution is an economic and moral problem. Hitler uses food as a political weapon. Last week, in Foreign Affairs, Economist Karl Brandt listed some of the ingenious and devastating uses to which this weapon has been put by Nazi experts in the last seven years.
At Home & Abroad. Both Stalin and Hitler use food to destroy internal opposition, reward accomplishment, punish failure, establish the class distinctions of their “new orders.” In Germany the “warrior caste” of the armed forces gets the fattest ration cards, skilled and essential workmen the next. Down at the bottom come prisoners, the insane, the Jews. Ration cards giving the owner right to more food are used to give workmen incentives to seek promotion, to increase their output. Supplies are suddenly cut down (regardless of the amount stored) to scare the population into believing the situation serious, or extra rations are suddenly granted to boost morale in a bad time. Food statistics are guarded like bomber planes. To the Nazis, food is “a beautiful instrument . . . for maneuvering and disciplining the masses.”
Nazis use food to smash their enemies in neutral countries, before trying military occupation. One technique: offers of huge foreign food purchases are suddenly concentrated in a single agricultural country; a fantastically high price is quoted; the offer is broadcast to the hard-pressed farmers, who in turn bring pressure on their Government to accept. In the process, patriotic resistance is undermined; the neutral Government that makes the deal is compelled to pay its farmers in its own currency while waiting payment from Germany. A sudden ending of the demand brings a price slump, followed by farmers’ defaulting on taxes and mortgage payments. Says Economist Brandt: “If this German technique were ever tried against the Latin-American countries, it would work magnificently. . . . Hitler . . . could throw every one of those countries into political convulsions and stir up violent hatred against the United States.” MUCH MORE, EXCEPTIONAL ARTICLE!
We can always predict our future by closely examining our past, and the past of other nations that have succumbed to the forces of fascism. The Mainstream News Media has covered this issue in bits and pieces but have failed to meld all of the stories together to reveal the “big picture”, the one that corporate America and President Bush are attempting to hide from the public. I find the timing of the Time’s article interesting, almost as if they were warning America by innuendo rather than facing-off with the government and stating the obvious. To those who have radical inclinations and believe Americans can somehow fight their way out of tyranny, while I admire their resolve and tenacity, they fail to understand the entire country can be brought to our knees within a matter of days by governmental manipulation of our food, utility, and water supplies. Understanding and studying our past does not mean it can’t be changed, but it does indicate the path we are blithely being led through, and it’s a dead-end as it pertains to our future. The contents on the Time Magazine article deserve close scrutiny and in understanding the methodology of other fascist regimes, it’s our hope that a similar tragedy can be averted in the United States. A hungry, starving population is more apt to give-up even more of their civil liberties in the “hope” that somehow, normalcy will return to their lives.
Ethanol production based on corn does not significantly affect what Americans pay at the pump, nor is it currently more “environmentally friendly” than using traditional fossil fuels. We don’t have an economical method of distributing ethanol yet, and our methods to produce it, and the impact on the environment and our water supply is frightening:
Corn ethanol—not as green as it seems?
Controversy over whether production of corn-based ethanol damages water quality has continued since President Bush’s 2007 State of the Union address where he announced a goal of increasing corn ethanol to 35 billion gallons by 2017.
Following his address, a committee of scientific experts warned that such a rise in production could pollute water and cause shortages at local and regional levels — including the Chesapeake Bay.
“The quality of groundwater, rivers, and coastal and offshore waters could be impacted by increased fertilizer and pesticide use for biofuels,” reported the experts of the National Academies in a study published on Oct. 10.
The report cites case studies of areas such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, where the nutrient pollution of agricultural runoffs has had a devastating effect on the environment.
“The economics of corn ethanol have never made much sense,” according to a Sept. 19 editorial of The New York Times, because corn requires more land for growing, has “modest” environmental benefits and is expensive to produce.
MUCH MORE
The long-term effects of using corn as a base for ethanol are not being addressed in the MSM and the general public has no idea of the impact this disastrous decision made by the Bush administration could have on the survival of the United States as the global water shortage intensifies - not to mention the financial impact that is worsening by the day as our food costs are rapidly escalating with no end in sight. The situation has improved in some areas, but the United States is still experiencing crippling drought conditions in several areas throughout the country. LINK Using corn, which requires enormous amounts of water per acre for cultivation, is exacerbating the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer - the life’s-blood of America’s breadbasket. We have known this valuable natural resource is being rapidly depleted for years; this is an article from 2006 to demonstrate that we knew this was a serious problem far before we committed to much of that very land to corn production:
Scientists say drought accelerating depletion of Ogallala Aquifer
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
