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Jewish World Review
Feb. 3, 2011/ 29 Shevat, 5771
Starving the World In Order to Save It
By
Arnold Ahlert
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
It is not often that two progressive shibboleths can contribute to so much world unrest at the same time. But if one takes policies resulting from the unwavering belief in both man-made global warming and Keynesian economics to their logical ends, both go a long way towards explaining the current unrest in the Middle East. And that's just for starters. What sparked that unrest could easily spread to much of the world. Let's "connect the dots."
What sparked the current situation in Egypt? The upheaval in Tunisia. What sparked the upheaval in Tunisia? Many Tunisians refer to the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old fruit and vegetable vendor who had had his vending cart seized by police. Shortly thereafter, Bouazizi poured gasoline over his body, and lit himself on fire in front of a government office.
Yet even as Bouazizi's death is being dismissed as only tangentially related to the Tunisian revolution by many on the left, the symbolism of it cannot be so easily dismissed. It was emblematic of a hopelessness shared by those in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Jordon, all which centers around two main factors: high unemployment and the escalating price of food. And while high unemployment can lead to a certain level of unrest, history suggests that there is nothing more dangerous than a nation full of people with empty stomachs. Thus, while many in the media are comparing the unrest in Egypt to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which was driven largely by religious unrest, it might be more accurate to compare it to the French revolution of 1789, which was driven largely by escalating food prices.
So what has caused food prices to escalate? Let's begin with progressive shibboleth number one, man-made global warming. It is no secret that progressives believe America's dependence on fossil fuels has led the planet to the brink of oblivion. And despite the fact that much of the data they used to "prove" such a scenario has been debunked, global warming, (aka climate change, aka climate disruption), is still being hawked with gusto to an increasingly skeptical public. Fortunately, most the AGW agenda is D.O.A. in Congress already. A Republican-led House which is currently writing a bill to ban the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, will make it even less likely that anything resembling job-killing climate legislation becomes law.
Unfortunately, it's already too late with respect to one of the most pernicious applications of the green movement, which is the use of crops like corn and soybeans to make ethanol. it doesn't matter that ethanol isn't even remotely fuel efficient with respect to either its production or use. What matters is that bio-fuel production has become the newest sacred cow of the farm lobby. To make a long story short, bio-fuel production, largely underwritten by the American taxpayer in the form of subsidies, has caused a tremendous shift in the planting habits of farmers. Farmers who stand to make a lot more money planting soybean and corn than wheat, rice, rye,oats, peanuts, etc. And not just American farmers. According to the United Nations "the share of vegetable oil consumption which is used for biodiesel production is expected to increase from 9% in 2006-08 to 20% in 2018."
Less land used for growing food, or using food itself to make fuel, equals escalating food prices.
More unfortunately, that's only half the story. Progressive dedication to Keynesian economics, despite its repeated failures, is the other half. Most specifically, Ben Bernanke's second round of Quantitative Easing, aka QE2, which has resulted in another 600 billion dollars of "liquidity," aka the American dollar, being tossed into the worldwide currency stream. The upside of QE2 is political: it is one of the primary contributers to a rising stock market, which might be the only thing keeping this president's popularity from sinking like a rock. The November election revealed the American public's discontent with this president, a large part of which was related to his economic policies--and that was with a Dow Jones Average somewhere in the eleven thousand-plus range. One can only imagine how much more of a "shellacking" Democrats might have received if the Dow was where it might have been without cheap dollars fueling its rise.
Unfortunately (there's that word again), commodities, of which food is one, are priced in U.S. dollars. And if you haven't guessed by now, cheaper dollars also drive the price of food through the roof. As economist Larry Kudlow explained in an article for National Review, "the Fed has been overproducing dollars for more than two years. Consequently, emerging markets throughout the world--and the food sector in particular--are suffering from rising inflation." How much inflation? Kudlow: "The CRB food index is up an incredible 36 percent over the past year, including 8 percent year-to-date. Raw materials are up 23 percent over the past year. Inflation breakouts have occurred in China, various Asian Tigers, India, Brazil, and other Latin countries. Even Britain and Germany are registering higher inflation readings."
Governments can withstand many challenges to their legitimacy, especially in autocratic societies. Unaffordable food prices is not one of them. Nothing concentrates the mind like hunger, especially when one is forced to watch one's children starving. During the beginning of the current uprising in Egypt, it was revealed that 40% of the population there lives below the poverty line. What is the poverty line? Two dollars a day, as set by the World Bank.
Sami Imam, a 53-year-old retired teacher who took part in Egyptian protests offers the ultimate insight into the fearlessness that the people of Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, and Algeria have demonstrated in confronting what might have been deadly force used against them.
"The police cannot kill us because we, to all practical purposes (sic), are already dead," said the father of four.
Practically dead, and for what? Maybe Americans should consider that propping up worthless movements and odious government policies isn't limited to the Middle East. And as sad as it sounds, maybe they should be thankful that a large portion of Middle Easterners, many of whom already hold America in contempt, lack the education to understand the monstrous nature of a progressive movement which willfully ignores reality whenever reality conflicts with their agenda. Is there anything dumber than using food to make fuel?
Yes. Forcing millions of people to the brink of starvation in order to "save the planet."
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on JWR Contributor Arnold Ahlert's column, by clicking here.
Previously:
01/31/11:Walking the Middle East Tightrope
01/27/11: Small-scale Terrorist Attacks: Big Strategy?
01/24/11: Jeffery Immelt: A Crony Capitalist In Charge of Job Creation
01/20/11: An Intimate Prime-time Interview
01/17/11: Progressives: Always Angry, Newly Desperate
01/12/11: Twain vs. the Totalitarians
01/10/11: Politically Correct Passports?
01/05/11: Showdown at the Fiscal Corral
01/03/11: Reading the Constitution Aloud is a Good Start
12/30/10: Getting Our Moral Mojo Back
12/27/10: PC Airport Safety is an Oxymoron
12/23/10: Getting America Back On Track
12/20/10: A Collectivist Coalition of Convenience
12/15/10: The President Who Wasn't There
12/13/10: Tech-No!
12/08/10: A Lethal Military, Inclusive or Not
12/06/10: The Unexpected Consequences of Progressivism
12/01/10: Leakers and Losers
11/29/10: We Won, Part One
11/22/10: Keep Your Hands Off My Constitution
11/17/10: Grope and Change
11/14/10: Taking Back Our Country, One School At a Time
11/11/10: Checks (and Balances), Please
11/08/10: Curtain Up, Progressives Down
11/04/10: Last Chance, Republicans
11/01/10: By Their Own Words Shall Ye Know Them
10/28/10: Progressive Determination to Undermine American Elections
10/25/10: Shock, but more importantly, action: De-Unionize Public Schools now
10/20/10: Multiculturalism? Check, Please
10/18/10: Healthcare: Alice in Wonderland vs. The Constitution
10/11/10: Vote for Restoring the Rule of Law in November
10/11/10: Dems: Running From Clarity
10/07/10: Hypersensitive Hogwash
10/04/10: Comprehensive Con Artists
09/29/10: Why Dems Are Going Down in November
09/27/10: The Unholiest of Unholy Alliances
09/22/10: Two Words for Republicans to Remember: I Won
09/20/10: Purging Me First Politicians
09/17/10: No More Lesser of Two Evils
09/15/10: Recovery Arms Race
09/13/10: Bigots in the Majority --- Again?
09/09/10: Giving Voters Something to Vote For
09/07/10: Irresponsible Dems, Incomprehensible Bills
09/02/10: War Weary Americans vs. Implacable Islamists
08/31/10: A Dream Debased
08/25/10: American Bigots Versus Media Propagandists
08/23/10: Recovery Bummer
08/19/10: An Unholy Alliance of Radicals
08/16/10: You've Lost America, Mr. President
08/13/10: The Twin Towers of Progressive Disconnect
08/11/10: A Far Better National Discussion
08/09/10: It's Only One Dead Nun
08/06/10: Incremental Tyranny
08/04/10: Ground Zero Mosque: Context Counts
08/02/10: The Arizona Ruling: a Gift for November
07/29/10: The United Cities of America
07/26/10: JournoList: Coordinated Ideological Bankruptcy
07/20/10: Go For Broke Or Get Out of the Way
07/14/10: You're a Liberal/Progressive if You Believe…
07/12/10: $33-an-hour--For Sleeping On the Job
07/08/10: Extortionist Government
07/06/10: Commerce Clause Totalitarians
07/01/10: Another Public School Travesty in MA
06/30/10: Calling YOUR Bluff, Mr. President
06/28/10: A Trifecta of Progressive Corruption
06/23/10: Plug the Darn Hole --- In Our Border
06/21/10: Our Empty-Suit-in-Chief
06/16/10: Betraying Our Children
06/14/10: Who Gets the Benefit of the Doubt?
06/07/10: Politically Correct Warfare
06/01/10: Bill Maher's Black President
05/25/10: A Mosque At Ground Zero
05/23/10: Libs Stand Tall --- For Mexico
05/19/10: The 'Unintended Consequences' of Liberalism
05/17/10: 'Los' Suns: Stuck on Stupido
05/12/10: Union Audacity: Yes We Will!
05/10/10: Greeks, Leaks and and Double-Speak
05/05/10: Twelve Million Illegals --- or Thirty?
05/02/10: Republicans: Playing Not to Lose Doesn't Cut It
04/28/10: Arizona: Progressivism's Waterloo?
04/26/10: Son of Amnesty
04/22/10: Mortgages and Moral Meltdowns
04/20/10: Bashing Christians Or Gays?
04/15/10: Personal Integri-tea
04/12/10: Fools, Tools and Ghouls
04/08/10: (Tea) Party On
04/05/10: The Triumph of Mediocrity
04/02/10: Two For the Road
03/29/10: The Innate Immorality of Liberalism
03/24/10: The Art of War
03/22/10: I Want My Country Back
03/18/10: A Perpetual Process
03/17/10: American Exhibitionists
03/15/10: A Light Bulb Moment of Clarity
03/10/10: Little Things Mean A Lot
02/03/10: Budgetary Fork in the Road
02/01/10: Liberal Economic Illiteracy
01/27/10: Roe-ing and Wade-ing Back to Reason
01/25/10: Arrogance When Up, Denial When Down
01/20/10: Connecting the Educational Dots
01/19/10: The Next Tea Party?
01/15/10: The Myth That Keeps on Giving
01/13/10: Airport Security Begins Away From the Airport
01/11/10: Secrets and Lies
01/08/10: Embracing Bigotry or Rejecting Bullying?
01/06/10: Hanging by an Ideological Thread
01/04/10: Our Wonderama Bureaucracy
12/30/09: A Day Off
12/28/09: Dangerous Myths
12/25/09: I, Me, Mine
12/23/09: A Very Harry Christmas
12/21/09: My Opinon
12/18/09: The Party of Repeal
12/15/09: Privileged Exemption
11/30/09: Settled Science and Unsettled Children
11/30/09: American Sharia Law
11/23/09:The Trial (Travesty) of the Century
11/04/09: American Vampires and Their Political Enablers
11/01/09: Opting Out of Insanity?
10/28/09: Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer. Brain Required
10/26/09: Communism: Nazism With Better PR
10/21/09: Just Asking
10/16/09: Cost Projections vs. Actual Costs, or Hope and Change vs. Reality
10/14/09: News you can use …
10/07/09: Incremental Insidiousness
10/05/09: MIA: Common Sense and Common Decency
09/30/09: Iran: Bad Options and Unpreparedness
09/21/09: Crying Racism: the Last Refuge of Scoundrels
09/11/09: 9/11 Cannot Be Sanitized
09/08/09: Truthers and Consequences
09/01/09: A Paper Trail Challenge for the Mainstream Media
08/31/09: Drowning in Amorality
08/26/09: The Republican Recovery Program
© 2010, Arnold Ahlert
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