The price of rough rice has doubled since last July; I believe it's up even more (177%) since last April but I couldn't find a decent chart. This doesn't really affect Americans as much as denizens of poor countries. If you go back and look at my Food Around The World post you'll see that the emaciated family from Chad spends only $1.63 per week on food - most of which appears to be rice. So clearly, a sharp move in rice costs can easily decimate their budget.
Just this week many countries like Brazil, India, and Vietnam have reacted to this rice "shortage" by limiting, if not banning, exports. Then we got the dimwits here in California who've already started rationing rice based upon "purchase history".
I am going to be busy today cleaning my house so this post isn't going much further. One point I wanted to make on rice was that its price pop can be partly attributable to the soaring prices of other agricultural commodities. AND, as we all know, much of that comes from asinine ethanol mandates. Well done greenies!
The food riots and Third World unrest are just starting. Before it's all over, who knows what havoc this "shortage" will end up causing? Who knows how much blood will be on the hands of evangelical environmentalists?
I wouldn't expect the Third World to be celebrating Earth Day in the foreseeable future.
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