W. House sees food prices staying high for 2-3 yrs

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - High global food prices are likely to linger for two to three years while the world replenishes food stocks, White House officials said on Tuesday.

"Our estimate is that those prices will continue to stay high, not escalate at the same rate as they did last year ... Inventories have been depleted and it will takes a while to rebuild those inventories," Edward Lazear, chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, said in an interview.

He said the prices would probably linger two to three years.



Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKWBT00898220080513

[Cant trust em]

1. Some say global warming is to blame

Weird weather has killed crops. Anomalies such as prolonged drought in Australia and flooding in SE Asia have decimated crops.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

9. I am starting to not believe that.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x148053

Do these guys have the power to invent shortages and invent the reasons for shortages? You bet. Money is the absolute power in the world these days.

Just as a mental exercise: How deep does the rabbit hole go?

[Winterblues]

13. Republican rule is to blame

They have done absolutely nothing to ward off Global Warming and in fact have done just the opposite, and they have created a five fold increase in energy costs from lousy foreign policy.

[Bacchus39]

25. would not greatly increased fuel prices lead to a reduction of CO2 emissions

but I would certainly add that any accomplishment to "ward off Global Warming" by Bush's brand of rule would be purely by accident.

[Bacchus39]

24. if that is the case food prices will remain high for more than 3 years

how about 300 or so.

[Cant trust em]

27. Global food production has been concentrated so much that 80% of grain is produced by 6 countries

If there's a natural disaster that affects one of those countries then the supply will be drastically reduced. If we diversified the producers of crops then we'd be able to avoid some of that.

I should have included this in my original post.

[postulater]

2. What would make anyone think they will ever come back down?

Once they have the prices up they have no incentive to let them drop.

[YDogg]

7. ding! ding! ding!

:bounce:

[Andy823]

11. It's like everything else

Bush has done. Big corporations have been buying up farms and orchards and now have the majority of them in their pockets. Like with gas and drug companies, they are going to screw the people for profits! The mess we are in now will take years to straighten out, and as you said, they have no incentive to drop prices as long as they can make huge profits!

We really need to get an AG who will go after these corporations and take them down. I am hoping that when Obama gets elected president, that John Edwards is made AG, and he goes after the corruption in the country, and puts and end to all this "greed" that has taken control of prices on the basics we need to live.

[postulater]

22. Edwards for AG is perfect

I'd almost rather see him there than as president. He could really dig in without distractions and root out some scum.

[keroro gunsou]

21. bartcop's law in action

anytime anyone makes a mistake that makes them money, expect them to repeat that mistake.

[OhioChick]

3. Wonderful....

High food prices for years, as well as gas prices....with everything under the sun going up. Yet, high unemployment and stagnant wages.

[Bluebear]

4. "While the world replenishes food stocks" - - huh?

[closeupready]

12. Yeah, thank you. I've never heard such a stupid thing. What is it to "replenish food stocks"??

I mean, duh, food isn't oil or rocks. It spoils. :eyes: More senseless spin - are people really fooled by this bullcrap?

[tom_paine]

20. It is a transparent Bushie Lie, told to a weak, cowardly and apathetic people.

Of course people are fooled by this bullshit. We are who we are. NOT similar at all to the generation that stopped Prescott Bush and his allies from overthrowing FDR and going Nazi. NOT at all similar to the generation that helped defeat Hitler.

No, we are mentally and morally similar to the Germans who let Hitler into power.

So yes, people are fooled by this bullshit because of who and what we are, what we have become We WANT to be lied to by our Fuhrer. Sure beats having to get up off our fat, TV-addled asses to try and defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

[Hobarticus]

23. We all need to stop eating for six months, apparently.

Your cooperation will be greatly appreciated.

[Bluebear]

26. Sad, isn't it?

[kestrel91316]

5. White House says:

Bush and his buddies are gonna hold onto their commodities futures and stay in that game for another two or three years. Then they're gonna dump, and wipe out what remains of the middle class.

[ananda]

6. I'm hoping that that is falsely premised on the deluded notion that..

.. McCain will continue the stupid and
deplorable policies of the insane and
sociopathic Bushinc.

[Davis_X_Machina]

8. That's forever....

..or its functional equivalent.

They don't think one day past 1/20/09.

[4dsc]

10. You don't rebuild inventories by making ethanol

Food for fuel is immoral..

[MichiganVote]

14. So we're going to eat **** again?

[sofa king]

15. ...Until they go higher.

Everything modern Americans eat is tied directly to the price of energy. Oil makes the fertilizer that goes into the ground; it harvests and packages it; it delivers it to the stores.

By starting a war in order to limit production and reap huge profits, the Republicans are directly responsible for this. It would have happened sooner or later, but not as quickly and not as much. And now there's no alternative but to hock our savings and our futures in order to eat.

[lonestarnot]

17. You said it! Piglicons have devoured the U.S. with their oil war.

:applause:

[lonestarnot]

18. You said it! Piglicons have devoured the U.S. with their oil war.

:applause:

[uppityperson]

16. What the bloody hell is this about? "replenishes food stocks"???

Yes, there are food shortages varied places around the world but most places the cost has nothing to do with "inventories have been depleted". argh argh argh argh argh

Will people really be so stupid to believe this?

[tom_paine]

19. Another Bushie Lie: They are NEVER coming down.

(maybe a brief downward fluctuation but no way food is going down in price over the long -term)

Plus, the dollar has so far yet to fall, so probably, even IF the Bushies were telling the truth and food prices go down in Free World countries, what makes you think they would go down in a nation with a worthless currency, a Third-World media, voting system, political system, and a diseases deliberately dumbed down, sickly populace of slaves in search of a collar for their necks?

:rofl: