Food prices may be catalyst for 2013 revolutions

[CG6468]

Jan. 16, 2013, 4:01 a.m. EST

Food prices may be catalyst for 2013 revolutions

By Matthew Lynn

LONDON (MarketWatch) — What is the trigger for a revolution? Sometimes it a brutal act of repression. Sometimes it a lost war, or a natural catastrophe, that exposes the failings of a regime.

But more often than not, it is soaring food prices.

The easiest prediction to make for 2013 is that everything we eat will once again rise sharply in price. So where will the revolutions start this year? Keep an eye on Algeria and Greece — and if you want to feel very nervous, Russia and China. And if you are smart, keep your money out of those countries as well.

Food prices around the world could soar this year if there’s a repeat of 2012’s drought in the American Midwest.
The link between the cost of feeding your family and political turmoil is too well-established to be ignored. We saw it most recently with the Arab Spring of 2011. The uprisings that deposed the autocracies of the Middle East had their roots in food inflation. Most of the Middle East countries import 50% or more of their food, making them acutely vulnerable to rising commodity prices. In Egypt the food inflation rate hit 19% in early 2011. For President Hosni Mubarak that was game over. The regime was finished.

It goes back much further than that, however. Failed harvests in France in 1788 and 1789 meant that the cost of bread soared. From taking 50% of the average working man’s wages it went up to 88%. The result? The French Revolution. The economists Helge Berger and Mark Spoerer have pinned the European revolutions of 1848 on the soaring price of wheat. Likewise, a shortage of food and soaring prices led to strikes in Petrograd in 1917 — and sparked the Russian Revolution.

Get ready - it may be coming soon  

[NHSparky]

No society is more than three meals away from a revolution.

None.

[Teri]

I don't believe we've seen anything yet.  The price of gold and silver are expected to reach astronomical levels before it's all said and done, but what good will your gold be if there's a real nationwide collapse?  Food will be the hardest thing to obtain and the most valuable source of barter. 

The average American needing food, gas, water and everything else will have one hell of a time trying to barter with gold, if they have any at all.  Food and supplies will be the main source of barter. 

Gerald Celente, who's called it right and on a continual basis along with all of the other experts are predicting the collapse.  Our cash is already pretty much useless.  The petrodollar is going down...  Yeah...get ready for the shit to hit the fan and most people won't be prepared either.  The liberals will be waiting for some FEMA truck to pull up and solve their problems...just like during Hurricane Sandy where some went without power for months.

Buy food and supplies now and if nothing else, prepare for at least a few months should all hell break loose and there is a collapse like all of the experts are predicting.

[JohnnyReb]

Remember the "Rocket Stove" thread....well, I've been thinking about experimenting with using a few bricks and a cement block to make a 2-burner rocket stove.... .....YES, I'm going into my second childhood.....I totally skipped over the adult in between bit.

[vesta111]

Remember the "Rocket Stove" thread....well, I've been thinking about experimenting with using a few bricks and a cement block to make a 2-burner rocket stove.... .....YES, I'm going into my second childhood.....I totally skipped over the adult in between bit.

I be thinking about the Irish potato famine, the different starvation's in Ethiopia and parts of middle East. Can't forget Russia when millions starved to death in the early 20 th. century.   Check out Haiti and those still with out a home or food and the leaders sitting on a gold mine in foreign banks.   

Leaders had enough money and food to fed the starving but just waited for the world to feed their own people.

Unfortunately people that have not eaten in 3 day are becoming so week they cannot RISE up, don't forget that an Army marches on their belly.

[Teri]

Remember the "Rocket Stove" thread....well, I've been thinking about experimenting with using a few bricks and a cement block to make a 2-burner rocket stove.... .....YES, I'm going into my second childhood.....I totally skipped over the adult in between bit.

We bought this Volcano stove from Emergency Essentials...it's so kewl and has so many different uses.  Check this out.

http://www.foodinsurance.com/emergency-supplies/emergency-stoves/volcano-stove

[vesta111]

We bought this Volcano stove from Emergency Essentials...it's so kewl and has so many different uses.  Check this out.

http://www.foodinsurance.com/emergency-supplies/emergency-stoves/volcano-stove

Looks good Teri unless you live in the south west.    Where you going to find wood to burn nothing out there but sand and brush.     Not a bad idea for people in the  tree lines of the country but there is a huge amount of American land that this would be impractical.

[Teri]

Looks good Teri unless you live in the south west.    Where you going to find wood to burn nothing out there but sand and brush.     Not a bad idea for people in the  tree lines of the country but there is a huge amount of American land that this would be impractical.

Did you click on the link?  That stove burns, charcoal, wood, propane...just about anything.  We've bought extra propane tanks.  You could cook a long time on that stove with just that.  Coal is easy to stock pile, burns hotter, last longer too.  You can get that any where. Click on the link.  Heck, you can burn sage brush in that too...and there's plenty of that in the SW.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Looks good Teri unless you live in the south west.    Where you going to find wood to burn nothing out there but sand and brush.     Not a bad idea for people in the  tree lines of the country but there is a huge amount of American land that this would be impractical.

"Desert" in the SW US is a whole different critter than the Sinai, Namib, or Gobi.  There really is quite a bit to burn in a Sonoran-type desert, it's just that the trees away from a water source don't get over about 12' tall, and there are quite a few other woody plants.  Stuff doesn't grow back very fast, so you don't want to plan on staying there long-term, but it's a lot more heavily vegetated than most people realize.

[Dori]

Looks good Teri unless you live in the south west.    Where you going to find wood to burn nothing out there but sand and brush.     Not a bad idea for people in the  tree lines of the country but there is a huge amount of American land that this would be impractical.

In India, they use a shiny cone shaped vessel and the sun to cook.
Lots of cultures use solar cookers.

[NHSparky]

what good will your gold be if there's a real nationwide collapse?

Pretty much.  Ya can't eat gold.  And frankly, lead will be more valuable than gold when you have to defend your food.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Pretty much.  Ya can't eat gold.  And frankly, lead will be more valuable than gold when you have to defend your food.

I suppose you could use gold, but you have to get it three times hotter to cast bullets out of it...

 

[IassaFTots]

My bullets get your beans. 


That is all.

[LC EFA]

I suppose you could use gold, but you have to get it three times hotter to cast bullets out of it...

 

..and at 250grains per transaction, it gets kinda expensive.

[ColonelCarrots]

I think I'll just ask God for manna.

[DefiantSix]

I think I'll just ask God for manna.

Whatever. 

If that wasn't you gorging yourself on my lawn this summer, it was one of yer buddies.  Ya all look alike to me.

[LC EFA]

I think I'll just ask God for manna.

Good luck with that.

I've never picked up a bible - but I recall something about "helping those that help themselves".

[RobJohnson]

Looks good Teri unless you live in the south west.    Where you going to find wood to burn nothing out there but sand and brush.     Not a bad idea for people in the  tree lines of the country but there is a huge amount of American land that this would be impractical.

I live in the Southwest and there is no shortage of wood here.  We have trees. Trees are usually part of those big fires you see on TV.

[NHSparky]

You have to remember--it's VESTA, after all.

[MrsSmith]

Good luck with that.

I've never picked up a bible - but I recall something about "helping those that help themselves".

Not in there.  Pretty basically, God says for us to do our work, but He'll take care of tomorrow.

[MrsSmith]

I don't believe we've seen anything yet.  The price of gold and silver are expected to reach astronomical levels before it's all said and done, but what good will your gold be if there's a real nationwide collapse?  Food will be the hardest thing to obtain and the most valuable source of barter. 

The average American needing food, gas, water and everything else will have one hell of a time trying to barter with gold, if they have any at all.  Food and supplies will be the main source of barter. 

Gerald Celente, who's called it right and on a continual basis along with all of the other experts are predicting the collapse.  Our cash is already pretty much useless.  The petrodollar is going down...  Yeah...get ready for the shit to hit the fan and most people won't be prepared either.  The liberals will be waiting for some FEMA truck to pull up and solve their problems...just like during Hurricane Sandy where some went without power for months.

Buy food and supplies now and if nothing else, prepare for at least a few months should all hell break loose and there is a collapse like all of the experts are predicting.

Gold and silver will still have some value, unlike any paper money or coins minted from junk metal.  My mom lived in Austria during WW2, in the black market, gold and silver could be used to purchase food, or whatever.  Of course, the prices were astronomical. 

She told stories of starving for years...being grateful for meals of potatoes...JUST potatoes.  She also told us about a local goat herder that would skimp on the milking during the day (because the government confiscated it all to "share fairly"), but children from miles around would travel to her place at night for a cup of milk.  Mom used to have to carry her baby sister there every night.

Here in the US, we have NO CLUE what it would be like.

[JohnnyReb]

Gold and silver will still have some value, unlike any paper money or coins minted from junk metal.  My mom lived in Austria during WW2, in the black market, gold and silver could be used to purchase food, or whatever.  Of course, the prices were astronomical. 

She told stories of starving for years...being grateful for meals of potatoes...JUST potatoes.  She also told us about a local goat herder that would skimp on the milking during the day (because the government confiscated it all to "share fairly"), but children from miles around would travel to her place at night for a cup of milk.  Mom used to have to carry her baby sister there every night.

Here in the US, we have NO CLUE what it would be like.

As a kid, I listen to old men talk about the great depression. They all had lived in the country on farms. They said they didn't have much money back then but they had plenty to eat.....unlike the city folks. It will be that way again.....but like Stalin, Obama might just take that to feed his people and let the producers starve.....hell, he's doing that now.

[catsmtrods]

Lots of food and lots of lead! Don't forget liquor, most will barter anything for that!

[ColonelCarrots]

Good luck with that.

I've never picked up a bible - but I recall something about "helping those that help themselves".

Nope, but I was making a reference to the model prayer in Matthew 6:11 "Give us this day our daily bread."

[DumbAss Tanker]

..and at 250grains per transaction, it gets kinda expensive.

It's all a question of which one you need more at that particular time.