WSJ: Maybe Americans Should Start Stockpiling Food »
Posted By Neophile 1 year, 2 months ago in StyleI don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.
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newbie04201 year, 2 months ago
I thought the WSJ was a republican controlled spin machine not to be trusted (like faux news)
What gives?
Their info is only good when you agree with it or someting?
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Beau78901 year, 2 months ago
What is wrong with you?
Can't you see a single article, or a single issue, in terms of its facts, assertions and conclusions WITHOUT trying to pigeonhole it as Democratic or Republican, conservative or liberal?
Jeez. Think for yourself for a change.
Or are you THAT far entrenched in the conservative ideology of the past 30 years that you MUST politicize EVERY issue at all times? No wonder you see nothing wrong with the politicization of the Justice Department, all of the consumer safety agencies, with Karl Rove giving PowerPoint presentations about prioritization of partisanship to every cabinet department?
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mesodude1 year, 2 months ago
It's funny you should say that because I'm warily assessing this rising chorus of Chicken Little stories in the media about escalating food prices and mass starvation--especially the ones that suggest that ethanol production is entirely to blame. It's amazing that this all apparently happened overnight and came with no warning (unlike Hurricane Katrina). And it also seems a little too convenient that gas prices continue to soar at the same time there is this sudden overnight food shortage.
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lovermanComment removed: User banned.
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hyperbola1 year, 2 months ago
Nope, fits right in with including food and starvation into "free market" speculation by corrupt elites.
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quackpot1 year, 2 months ago
Seems to me that the article speaks of the very real ratio of food price to dollar value.
If you are not afraid of either inflationary pressures on the economy or the slipping value of the dollar, congratulations on being a member of the Jet-set
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Grrr1 year, 2 months ago
If you read the article, he's talking investment strategies here, not so much about a run on food. He's actually suggesting that stockpiling food might provide a better return on investment than other options, since food prices this year are likely to spike more than the avg. return on investment.
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hyperbola1 year, 2 months ago
See my response below, especially the one about Haiti. Turning the world's markets over to corrupt speculators has been apart of our imperialism efforts ever since Reagan. Concentrating wealth and power in corrupt financial circles has been and is proving to be disastrous.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
http://www.democracynow.org/2004/11/9/confessio...
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PainGoddess1 year, 2 months ago
I have always had at least 3 month supply of food on hand. Remember the Red Cross asking people to do this in case of disaster or pandemic? Maybe I should have six month supply??
It is a silly way to invest. The US still has the lowest prices anywhere and hoarding will not help. We have tried to help the rest of the world become food independent but it never seems to work.
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lovermanComment removed: User banned.
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hyperbola1 year, 2 months ago
Well here we have the ultimate corruption of the right-wingers. Now it is acceptable to get rich by speculating on the starvation of human beings.
30 Years Ago Haiti Grew All the Rice It Needed. What Happened?
The U.S. Role in Haiti's Food Riots
http://www.counterpunch.com/quigley04212008.html
Trillion Dollar Crisis: Bankers Saved, Human Rights Sacrificed
Money â;; The ministers for Finance of Western countries have strongly reacted to the IMF figure, as if it was dangerous to show the extent of the crisis. These same governments, which are unable to help their needy populations, quickly came to the rescue of private interests: nationalization of troubled banks, cash forexchange of distressed debt securities
http://money.propeller.com/story/2008/04/18/tri...
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hyperbola1 year, 2 months ago
Republicans and "Free Market" Zealots Bring Disaster to America
Money â;; Each new decision from the insane Bush regime pushes the dollar a little further along to oblivion.
http://money.propeller.com/story/2008/03/13/rep...
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nostalgia1 year, 2 months ago
This is simply a way to save you a little money
Who remembers the 1970's when there were price stickers on cans etc in the grocery stores?
In the 70's the prices on food were increasing weekly. If you dug through the cans on the shelf you could find ones with cheaper (earlier) prices.
Since everything is computerized now, the price will increase on the item regardless of how long it has been on the shelf
Buying 10 cans of corn now will be cheaper in the long run than buying 1 can/week for 10 weeks
It is simply common sense. Buy when there are sales, buy in bulk and use coupons
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PainGoddess1 year, 2 months ago
I remember too well. Bulk is better if you can eat it before it goes out of date. Make your own bread products too much cheaper. There are stores out here in the west selling wheat by the 50 pound bag.
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nostalgia1 year, 2 months ago
All prices will go up with food impacted the most
Everything has to be transported and the cost of diesel will impact the nonperishables
Not certain about the male doo-dads though ;>)
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bluetexasvalley1 year, 2 months ago
Getreal, before you start your garden, go to squarefootgardening.com. It'll save you tons of money, time, sweat and space for a garden.
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saintetienne1 year, 2 months ago
getreal1 says: "This isn't no joke people this is really happening."
-"Soylent green is people! It's PEOPLE!"
-"You moved the headstones but neglected to move the GRAVES!"
-"Somebody is putting these people into COMAS!"
-"The humanity! Oh GOD, the HUMANITY!"
Any other Chicken Littles care to submit a ridiculous, movie-worthy line?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Oh God....the posts on Nutscape never fail to give me a good laugh! You people are HYSTERICAL!! If it's not global warming or George Bush, it's gas prices and food hoarding that's RUINING YOUR LIVES!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Take a good, long look at yourselves people, and tell me. Do you really believe half the hooey you read and spout off about? DO you? TELL me you're not that dumb, PLEASE.
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quackpot1 year, 2 months ago
Snt and PainGoddess, you really should read the articles before making a fool of yourself.
The article is about the rapid increase in the price of food and how (hypothetically) it might be an even better investment than gold.
The stockpiling that is [jokingly] suggested is for economic gain. This IS the WSJ after all!!
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dissent1 year, 2 months ago
funny that. it gets politicians elected, it gets them more powers than sense should allow and it gets us into wars. nothing like fear to keep people stupid and under the thumb. but in the whirlwind of phobias and all the shouts about bogeymen at 12 o'clock high, there are some things we really should have been paying attention to that we haven't. and they're just starting to find traction now. this is one of 'em. if you don't believe this is real, take a trip to panama or the philippines like a cuppla posters said earlier. it's not silly, it's real
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joeblowe1 year, 2 months ago
The author completely neglected to factor in the additional cost of RENTING A DAMN SPACE to store all that food you are hoarding. NOW - how much do you save? (I don't have ROOM in my kitchen/pantry/freezer to REALLY stockpile anything.)
Next war: Brazil. Screw the oil, we need more FARMLAND!
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Natureboy1 year, 2 months ago
"Next war: Brazil. Screw the oil, we need more FARMLAND!"
Why not just go after suburbia? We paved over our own farmland to build all those crappy tract homes anyway.
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zaph221 year, 2 months ago
oh come on now Joe, let's all hoard all the food we can... and see how long it really does take us to create a illusionary shortage because all the food is stored away at people's homes, and then less see how fast it drives prices up, and how much faster they go up then the are now.
I realize the price of food has gone up a lot, and quickly, but that is in great part because of the price of fuel, but some of us have seen things like this before, when Nixon took us off the gold standard, and then Jimmy Carter got elected and found ways to compound the problems caused by going off the gold standard, and those things together were the cause of what they called the "misery index? back in the 1970's. Then strangely enough by a year or two after Carter left office, and Nixon had been out of office for some time, prices came back down.
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BB641 year, 2 months ago
The sky is falling!!! The sky is falling!!! Just another fear piece but I'm shocked at who printed this story. If you're living in the USA, there won't be food riot or starvation. However, if you live in a third world nation and more than 1/2 your food comes from the USA in food aide, well you're going to be in trouble. Over the last 50 years taxpayers bought up surplus crops and supplied many nations with food aid. Today, because of the tree hugging anti-gasoline lobby pushed the ethanol agenda, we're seeing farmers move towards producing more and more fuel corn. Less surplus food will lead to a crisis but not for us. We're still the bread basket of the world but now not the poor.
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quackpot1 year, 2 months ago
1---- Read the article - it is about the VERY REAL price increase of food NOT its scarcity in the U.S.
2---- The Ethanol lobby is about BIG business. Its major backer for MANY years has been Archer Daniels Midland Company - a fortune 500 company. The major supporters are Representatives and Senators from the corn belt.
3---As you WELL KNOW, your comments about who is backing the Corn-based-ethanol lobby are IDIOTIC. Why you keep repeating them, I do not know. FOLLOW THE MONEY. the MONEY is from ethanol producers (such a ADM) and BIG agribusiness.
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saneman1 year, 2 months ago
I have just purchased CDs in Switzerland which pay me 8% interest compounded annually. There is nothing in the US to even compare to those rates. I don't see the dollar getting any better any time soon.
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BronxBomber1 year, 2 months ago
Nobody is talking about the root cause of this or talking about a solution to alleviate this upcoming problem. What to do? What to do? & who the he11 is responsible for this? Uh-oh! Here comes the politicking double talk!
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canadianrancher571 year, 2 months ago
I listen to alot of ag reports every day and if I go back to late Feb. it sounded as there was no wheat left in the world and the Mar wheat on the MGE ran up to 25 dollars a bushel which is 60 lbs. Now without the crop even growing it is hard to find a price above 9 dollars. The prices of many commodities are set by the futures market and not really by actual supply and demand, there has been a growth in commodity funds who are playing this market for the speculators. When prices started to move last year on the grains it did not take all of the ag suppliers long to cash in by increasing prices so profit for farmers may be sort of like hoping to win the lottery, panic in nearly all markets is caused mostly my rumors and not fact and I think this is what is happening now in the grain markets. Alot of farmers in my area made enough with the increase in prices last fall that they are just sitting on stocks of grain, sort of a reserve just in case.
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Amazing11 year, 2 months ago
If you want to invest, I suggest seeds. Real seeds. Then you can grow your own. Sell seeds to your neighbors, etc. Also ammo and gold. Can't go wrong there. Food prices will rise. The problem is how to store it. Canned foods are good. Rice will go rancid after a while. But you can save money in the long run. Seeds, however, take less room and carry the potential in case there is a shortage later on.
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bluetexasvalley1 year, 2 months ago
And seeds you don't use this year can be kept in a sealed container in your refrigerator, and will be viable for up to 5 years. And if you use square foot gardening, you will only use the same number of seeds for the number of plants you want.
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bluetexasvalley1 year, 2 months ago
Unused seeds will keep in your refrigerator and remain viable for up to 5 years. If you use square foot gardening techniques, you only use the number of seeds you need for the number of plants you want. Check out squarefootgardening.com
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JackofallChems1 year, 2 months ago
Well, it's 85 posts so far and nobody has figured out yet that it's because of China and European socialists that food prices are going through the roof all over the world. When trade is redistributed from the 'rich' to the 'poor' for political reasons, it messes up the incentive for people to work hard and get ahead in life - that kills domestic production/productivity and impoverishes everyone in such countries. When trade is deliberately imbalanced, such as Chinese currency manipulation or Eurosocialist price fixing on pharmaceuticals under US patents, countries sensible enough to reject socialism and other forms of sociological stupidity are impoverished by their 'trading partners', HOWEVER there's no subsequent productivity in the countries that sucked out the value - just squandering, hoarding and pandering for power. As a result, the US is going to starve and the rest of the world will ultimately join us unless there's a successful trade war to break it up. Major bummer...
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JackofallChems1 year, 2 months ago
p.s. never try to trade with an unreformed communist and expect life to stay the same or improve (they don't like advancement, and only value the equality of poverty), and never try to negotiate a weapons-free peace as a non-Muslim with die-hard Muslim neighbors (they don't like the idea of sharing a planet with anyone that's not Muslim or a financial/physical slave of a Muslim). either attempt is doomed to fail, and both are equally likely to be fatal in the forseeable future.
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slate1 year, 2 months ago
Fear mongering.
I know, Obama will fix it, only if people will get with the program and Hillary will just go away, then we can elect the only person on the planet that can save us from Shrub.
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slate1 year, 2 months ago
How do you fix this and other problems faced by the world today?
1. Take oil off the speculators market and place it on the regular market.
2. Drill for oil and flood the market with it.
3. Build 5 more refineries in the US.
4. Find one national "fuel blend' and do away with all other blends, so the refineries aren't playing perpetual catch up to make enough of all the different blends for each season, or region.
5. If only Bush actually was buds with the Saudis as some claim, you could ask him to call and ask to reduce the cost of crude oil.
6. Invent a way to run cars for free once you pay the 'purchase' price of the item, like 'yesterday' already.
7. It's the fuel costs that are causing all the economic woes in the world's economies.
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Jaydee401 year, 2 months ago
So you think farmers should pay to feed you? Farmers make money on some crops but lose on others, pork farmers have been losing for years now with prices the way they are.
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