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Global food shortage always feels like "well, I'm not concerned many other countries will be hit first". Many countries will literally have issues, but the foo

Global food shortage always feels like "well, I'm not concerned many other countries will be hit first". Many countries will literally have issues, but the food will _also_ be a lot more expensive for all of us. The coming years will be "fun" (and I mean bad, to be clear).

alecco 4y ago
Middle East is starting to have issues. This will impact oil prices.
- px43 4y ago
  I don't think that the people experiencing poverty and hunger in the middle east have any relation to anyone in the oil industry there.
  - orwin 4y ago
    History doesn't agree with you. Last time the middle-east and Maghreb got hungry, it was 2011. The Arab spring wouldn't have come if it weren't for food riots.
    - px43 4y ago
      In what way was Arab spring correlated with oil prices? https://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-chart https://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-cha...
- unmole 4y ago
  If anything, high oil prices will allow governments in the region to subsidise food. Saudis have already started to help out Egypt. They definitely don't want the regime collapsing.
throwaway0a5e 4y ago
>The coming years will be fun I wouldn't call the impending cognitive dissonance "fun" unless one likes being a spectator of ideologically driven mental gymnastics. We've done weird stuff to low levels of our economies. That's gonna have marginal consequences across the board. And a little bit across the board adds up to a lot of hardship.
- jlengrand 4y ago
  Good point, I corrected. I didn't mean fun of course. I really feel for all of the folks who are already today barely making ends meet :s.
px43 4y ago
40% of all food that is purchased in the US is thrown in the garbage. It's so heavily subsidized here that people just consider it disposable. They buy way more than they need so they can just eat whatever they're in the mood for, and throw out the rest. Maybe food should be a lot more expensive.
- codefreeordie 4y ago
  Unlike factory output, agricultural output is highly variable. If you produce only just enough in good years, then people die in bad years. If you produce double demand in good years then bad years are fine. The fact that we can usually afford to waste lots of food is a really really good thing.

alecco 4y ago

Middle East is starting to have issues. This will impact oil prices.

px43 4y ago
I don't think that the people experiencing poverty and hunger in the middle east have any relation to anyone in the oil industry there.
- orwin 4y ago
  History doesn't agree with you. Last time the middle-east and Maghreb got hungry, it was 2011. The Arab spring wouldn't have come if it weren't for food riots.
  - px43 4y ago
    In what way was Arab spring correlated with oil prices? https://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-chart https://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-cha...
unmole 4y ago
If anything, high oil prices will allow governments in the region to subsidise food. Saudis have already started to help out Egypt. They definitely don't want the regime collapsing.

throwaway0a5e 4y ago

>The coming years will be fun I wouldn't call the impending cognitive dissonance "fun" unless one likes being a spectator of ideologically driven mental gymnastics. We've done weird stuff to low levels of our economies. That's gonna have marginal consequences across the board. And a little bit across the board adds up to a lot of hardship.

jlengrand 4y ago
Good point, I corrected. I didn't mean fun of course. I really feel for all of the folks who are already today barely making ends meet :s.

px43 4y ago

40% of all food that is purchased in the US is thrown in the garbage. It's so heavily subsidized here that people just consider it disposable. They buy way more than they need so they can just eat whatever they're in the mood for, and throw out the rest. Maybe food should be a lot more expensive.

codefreeordie 4y ago
Unlike factory output, agricultural output is highly variable. If you produce only just enough in good years, then people die in bad years. If you produce double demand in good years then bad years are fine. The fact that we can usually afford to waste lots of food is a really really good thing.