THE UNIVERSAL ECONOMY.http://www.trafford.com/07-2440
THIS CONCEPT WILL TAKE NOTHING FROM YOU AND I.
WEALTH OWNERSHIP IS LEFT INTACT.
YET IT WILL ABOLISH ALL POVERTY AND DEPRIVATION.
IT WILL ASSURE THE FUTURE WELL-BEING OF ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS.
THE UNIVERSAL ECONOMY WILL ALSO RESOLVE DISPUTES CONCERNING TAXATION,WORK-PLACE EQUITY,HEALTH AND EDUCATION, INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION AND HOMELESSNESS.
PLEASE READ TO THE END EVEN THOUGH TO BEGIN WITH IT STATES THE BLEEDING OBVIOUS.
THAT WAY YOU WILL KNOW WHERE I AM COMING FROM.
1…All ideological experiments have failed.
2…Poverty is in the "too hard" basket.
3…"Markets" exist primarily to make money for the rich.
4…International Production Capacity is a pawn enslaved to the bottom line.
5…Economic Rationalism destabilizes family community and the Economy.
6…Free Enterprise will not provide work and income for all unless we intervene.
7…Money and International "Exchange" systems are corrupt.
8…Uncontrolled personal debt and interest rates hurt families disproportionately.
9…Taxation in its current form is counterproductive and requires revision.
10..We need a Government Bank to control and issue credit.
11..We need positive mechanisms to provide community services.
12..We need positive mechanisms to provide infrastructure.
13..We need positive mechanisms to care for all people.
14..Industrial Relations must serve employers and employees fairly and equally.
15..Freedom of choice must apply equally and be meaningful and universal.
16..We must recognize that globalisation is a profound mistake.
17..Money must be organized to serve the needs of all humanity.
18..Sovereign Nations need protection from money markets and exchange manipulation.
19..We need a new world order of Exchange Control and Banking.
20..Our"Westminster Democracy" is a farce and needs to be revised and updated.
21..We need "ethical" not "ideologically biased" Politicians.
22..Above all we need truthful and transparent Leaders.
23..Domestic Economies must be isolated from foreign private manipulation.
24..Domestic Currency must not be traded on International Exchanges.
25..Our external currencies will have no domestic circulations.
26..Governments must set Exchange Rates to end currency manipulation.
27..All month to month domestic tax collections can and will cease.
28..Free enterprise is of paramount importance.
29.. Government will issue infrastructure contracts to private sector and will control and direct health, housing, education universities qualified professionals and research.
30..The Government will create debt free Social Capital sufficient to balance the demands of providing the Social Wage ( to eliminate poverty) and infrastructures.
PLEASE CONSIDER OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE.
THE POLICIES ADVOCATED HERE CAN BE ACHIEVED BY A DEMOCRATIC FREEDOM LOVING PEOPLE.
ALL IDEOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS HAVE FAILED.
The human race has evolved from the early days of hunting and gathering. Given the rate of growth of human populations this way of life could not last. Then there was serfdom and slavery. Late in the nineteenth century Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in Germany introduced a system of social insurance.It was revolutionary for the times. Mandatory insurance, using collections from employers to pay for statutory benefits a universal scheme managed by government.
Social conscience was alive and well in Great Britain. Thoughtful individuals such as Cadbury and Robert Owen in Lanarkshire provided housing for workers with some attention to health needs and regulated hours of work. It was not until 1935 that America introduced social insurance for the old which soon included support for disability and Medicare.This was part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal".
Meanwhile Great Britain had progressed from Transportation and Work House and Debtor Prisons to a program of National Assistance a standard which lay between meagre and miserly. The years of Queen Victoria had taught them nothing despite having people like Charles Dickens writing great works on the subject.
Modern day Social Security is, I grant you, generous by comparison.The problem with it is, it is not universal, not available to all who need it most(Worldwide).Once paid the Government is then forever seeking ways to cut it back.Because we are told, the Tax Payer must have his tax reduced.Politicians do this as one string,among many others, to the bow which is used to influence voters.This is a form of ideological arm-twisting otherwise known as bribery,It appeals to the venal side of our nature and we fall for it. The adversarial, ideological style of our politics allows one side to convince the other that people who do not have any income do not need or deserve to be cared for.
We must come to understand permanently and forever that the human population is expanding exponentially and will need feeding housing and caring, for the rest of time. The politician the economist the corporate guru that tells you that free enterprise will take care of everything and that all we have to do is go out and get a job is deliberately lying to you they are simply protecting their domain their kingdom. If what they say can be true it would have been done by now; the truth is it is a demonstrable mathematical and physical impossibility.
Industry and the Corporation is not interested or concerned with the general welfare of the population. This responsibility rightly belongs to community decisions and Government implementation.
During my long years observing the torturous logic and downright deceit used by Politicians, it is easy to understand why one side of our community appears uncaring and hard-hearted.
The Universal Economy will change all that.
POVERTY IS IN THE TOO HARD BASKET.
The great strength of the Universal Economy lies in the fact that we revolutionise the way we regard money and how it is created without forsaking or compromising free enterprise.
We have been brainwashed to believe that if we hold a dollar note in our hand it is because, somewhere, there has been an excess return of output value over and above the relevant input value, called profit. Put another way, when inputs equal outputs there is no surplus to spend somewhere else. We can accept that this is a necessary method to use when conducting business.
Plainly, caring for humanity is not a business in the commercial sense. When a child is born out-put\production? are we then to require a proper accounting of the inputs? No this would be an impractical if not improbable requirement. Populations are growing exponentially and we must put in place a system to provide for them.
Creating Social Capital is not a new idea. Consider that great slabs of America were founded, in effect, by allowing settlers to take up for free, large tracts of land. This is tantamount to printing money in support of the Private Sector. The fact that North American Indians had to be dispossessed along the way has no bearing but the Indians certainly paid a price\loss?
A similar process occurred in Australia.
The point is, that when we cast aside our archaic belief that says we can only have money if we have first of all earned it, we then free ourselves to provide for the poor up to a standard that does not impede the growth and development of free enterprise.
Does anyone still believe that free enterprise is capable left to it's own needs and morality, of providing, not only work and income for every living soul, but also the phenomenal amounts of cash or credit required to provide necessary infrastructures? This would require a very high volume of continuously rising profits; burdening future generations with debt is not the answer. The future will create new and continuing demands of it's own.
The answer is a moving target that lies at a point somewhere between what we now call Social Security and that part of economic income, which is required for the successful development of Free Enterprise.
The Universal Economy will eliminate all contention and acrimony related to provision for the poor generated by right wing conservative even fascist governments in the minds of those who pay taxes.
THE UNIVERSAL ECONOMY WILL ELIMINATE
POVERTY.
Markets exist primarily to make money for the rich.
This is not a criticism or complaint, it is a simple recognition of the facts, free enterprise will not work any other way,ask any stock holder. It needs stating here because it helps to illustrate the motivation and direction which free enterprise is bound to pursue.
Business and Industry require an environment conducive and consistent with the development of their activities, just as the community needs a stable predictable environment that provides for every day basic needs and family responsibilities. We do not have to perpetuate the sense that says take this work or you will not eat, that attitude creates a population unproductive, resentful, and antagonistic.
The Universal Economy will encourage Business and Industry because they will no longer be required to collect Taxes and Superannuation savings from Employees; they will no longer be required to pay week to week or month to month Taxes or any kind of Goods and Services Tax. Their year-end balance sheets will be taxed fifteen percent of net profits.
Therefore this will considerably reduce workloads for staff and will also reduce production and operating costs making way for lower export prices, the wages of workers will also be reduced by the amount of tax they would normally expect to pay.
All private individuals will not pay income tax whilst they live. Instead, a tax will be levied on estates valued, say, at above $500,000 thousand dollars.The tax levied would be for fifty percent of the value above $500,000. There can be no fairer way to pay tax than this. Once every life time.
Employers will be free to hire those who are unemployed and who are in receipt of the Government paid Social Wage. These employees will continue to collect the Social Wage without reduction this will be the encouragement that causes them to progress out of poverty and into the mainstream workforce. The burden will be on employers to retain them as motivated contented appreciated workers or lose them to greener pastures. A free market of choice for employees and employers.
To the extent that the workforce is content and well treated, then, to that extent will Unions be relevant, or not. A contented secure workforce is a productive one.
The Universal Economy will create a near perfect environment for business to thrive; the workforce will be educated and trained, provided with good opportunities for housing and families, all secured by good opportunities for education, training and health care.
Do not be led into thinking all this is impossible, once debt free Social Capital supply principles are embedded anything is possible.
We may regard the economy as a huge engine just like any truck. It not only requires regular maintenance and services but it also needs a constant supply of fuel to be available for it to use as and when the need arises, Once the truck is refuelled we would not normally contemplate sucking it out again. Just as this would be dangerous in the truck example, so it would interrupt the smooth working of the economy. Interest rates and taxation, inapropropriately applied, have always stunted economic growth; this would have been avoided had we utilised the far more relevant techniques of fractional reserve banking and restrictions on credit creation.
In the Universal Economy the Government sector can set fixed long-term domestic interest rates for home ownership, agriculture and farming. Importantly, all of the foregoing mitigates in favour of reduced inflation .
INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION CAPACITY IS A PAWN ENSLAVED TO THE BOTTOM LINE.
This endeavour could be in the top two of "the most stupid" short-sighted community destroying resource wasting profit seeking activities of the last one hundred years.
Our present economic wisdom insists that every person, able bodied or not, must be in gainful employment. From people in wheel chairs to mothers whose primary duty is to raise our next generation of educated skilled law abiding citizens. Stupid and short sighted? Humanity not Mammon must come first!
We are exporting essential machine plant and a concomitant of this is the loss of skilled machine tool operators and engineers. We are deskilling our workforce at an alarming rate. Whole sectors of production and engineering capability are being lost to us; even now it will take many years to recover, assuming that common sense may still prevail. Profit seeking?
Consider then, the colossal element of resource waste involved. Whole production line plant and equipment is consigned to the scrap heap, some is exported. Then we import the replacement product from far away. This incurs the use of purpose built shipping lines, huge investment to expand and develop our maritime ports, incredible waste in fuel and oil resource.Is this not a stupid short sighted resource wasting affront to commonsense? Paid for by consumers and taxpayers.
And what will result when our nation requires these resources at home for strategic purposes? What will our options be when those who supply our imports now realize they have the whip hand and can raise prices from a monopoly position? Have we forgotten there is a looming shortage of cheap oil? When will we learn to stop the cheap exporting of our mineral and natural resources and instead go back to solid principles such as value adding at home? Stupid and short sighted? You betcha!
The concept of Universal Economy removes the need for these kinds of stupidity to occur. The Universal Economy is structured so as to satisfy the domestic needs first and will exclude distorting international interventions whilst allowing what is good and necessary. This is possible because the central motivation in The Universal Economy for capital and resource planning is to make us, and every Nation, an Independent Sovereign entity.
The Corporate Commercial Force has manipulated and abused our human and capital resources in the name of "profits first" for too long. The Universal Economy will enable more Corporate opportunity than ever before ,will stop exploitation in the work force and yet give the workforce a sense they are valued and treated fairly and equitably.
There is plenty of opportunity available for improving the "bottom Line" using the concept of Universal Economy without enslaving the people to it, and without corrupting the National Sovereignty of the Nation.
SOVEREIGNTY BELONGS TO ALL THE PEOPLE.
….Economic Rationalism and Globalisation Destabilizes Family and Community.
Financial Deregulation was to give us low interest rates and reduced charges for consumers; foreign investment was to pour in to underpin economic growth and provide us with a higher standard of living. These things have occurred but only as fleeting phantom forms. The world is now entering a period of prolonged recession/depression, interest rates and inflation are going to be sharply higher.
We must exercise extreme caution, we are running the largest foreign trade and consumption driven debt accounts in Australia's history, financial Institutions here and around the world are sliding into bankruptcy. Working people are losing savings and retirement funds on an unprecedented scale. The great free enterprise machinery has organised a massive transfer of wealth from hard earned savings to the sloth, criminality and already obscenely wealthy rich.
This is a process which can only be reversed by increasing manufactures and finding markets which are permitted to import our agriculture without risk of penalty from our one sided self imposed trade agreements. To the extent that we have a higher standard of living we must not forget that this has been created on the back of a contrived property and consumer credit boom and very, very cheap imports from China.The bust cometh and will soon implode upon us all.
Our production capacity has been raped. Both the manufacturing and agriculture sectors are under great threat and are disappearing as we breathe. Yet more and more food is being imported. We have not enjoyed the expected inflows of investment capital to boost production capacity and the agriculture sector is really our only hope of increased foreign exchange earnings. The exportable capacity in agriculture is estimated to be less than twenty billion dollars annually.
With foreign debt at around five/six hundred billion dollars we have little chance of paying it off and interest costs on all the borrowed cash will cripple our growth prospects. All of Australia's recent growth has come from cash borrowed overseas to fund consumption and the domestic home building and mortgage market. It is estimated that Australian Banks and Financial Institutions have some twenty trillion dollars of exposure to the derivatives market and that some five percent of that is irrecoverable; if so they are going bankrupt so get your money out now.
We can imagine that it will not be long before the IMF and World Bank will step in to further "Economically Rationalise" our economy. They will force more privatisations, deep cuts in services such as education health and social security. They will want charges increased and taxes reduced for the rich. Whether we like it or not inflation is on the way and cannot be stopped. Much unemployment will result. Recovery will take years. Say goodbye to all the middle class welfare, families are going to hurt.
Is it not families that are most vulnerable? The most exposed to increased prices and interest rates, cuts to health and education services?. Who will suffer most when unemployment comes calling? All of this is what made the Howard Government Industrial relations and anti terrorism laws and reforms so urgently necessary. Fascist leaders around the world have all made these preparations they are ready for trouble because they know it is coming.Scripted by International Corporate Power and Financiers.
Notice that the Rudd Government has allowed Australian Workplace Agreements to continue on for five years. These will be the worst of our recession/depression years, the years when AWA's will be most utilised by employers to reduce wages and benefits and to facilitate mass sackings without redress or compensations such as "notice" and "redundancy".
All so-called democratic Governments must now dance to the instructions flowing from the centres of Corporate and Financial Power. This has been the real purpose behind Prime Minister Rudd's world tour. He left Japan out because he was instructed to do so.
These centres of Corporate and Financial power require that Australia revert to a banana republic type wage structure in order to cut costs of production to a level that will motivate the much needed investment to reinvigorate the manufacturing sector.
These changes are intended to "make it easier" to re-establish Australian Work Place Agreements and this will lead to the universal loss of entitlements of all variety. Any trade-off value can then be clawed back as future wage increases are controlled downwards. The new anti terrorism laws can be used to come down hard on those who will undoubtedly protest in the street.
CHOOSE THE UNIVERSAL ECONOMY,
Free Enterprise will not provide work and income for all unless we intervene.
Put at it's simplest we could argue that we have lived with 'Free Enterprise" since time immemorial.
One outstanding and blindingly obvious result of this is that there have always been poor destitute unemployed, uncared for peoples.Yes, but they have never been so numerous than they are today. And if Capitalist Free Enterprise is so wonderful why has it not stepped up to the plate?
We recognize the condition exists at Government level as evidenced by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's early social programmes and the creation of Communism and it's concomitant Socialism. President Castro and Che Guevera deserve all praise for the longevity of their creation against all the odds.
However, what is also blindingly, bleeding, obvious is that despite some brave attempts around the world to have socially caring communities they have all failed. Such policies get on the starting blocks, run for a short time and then fail the test of continuance ,it can be said, because such policies are totally and utterly incompatible with rules laid down by our ruling Financial and Corporate Elite. Financial Manipulators, crooks and those called "economists" whose function it is to legitimise those rules to prove them right by a multitude of arguments.
My words are chosen from the rich experience gathered from around the world after witnessing first hand the devious partnerships devised twixt Politicians, Corporate Power and Financial Institutions. Together they use Democracy and financial sleight of hand as the tools that facilitate their designs. One example was the Howard Governments advertising of Industrial Relations Reform. Cynically named "work Choices".
In truth the only "choice" was to take what is offered or go find work elsewhere.
However, what they did not say is the most important message of all. These agreements removed all possibility of workplace security. Under them the workforce could be "laid-off" with impunity, no notice and no severance provisions. Under such agreements nothing can be guaranteed precisely because it is an individual contract. Neat?.The Australian workforce is being downsized big time.
If this is not true then why do we need all these changes?
Surely it is possible to agree with the contention "Free Enterprise will not provide work and income for all". Therefore we are duty bound to learn from our mistakes.
The Universal Economy represents the most thorough, most complete, all inclusive, universal answer to Poverty, Unemployment, Ideology, Infrastructure, Provision of Social Services,Taxation, Pensions, Health, Education etal; plus it serves to legitimise Free Enterprise as never before. Financial Market Manipulators and crooks are deprived of some opportunities but legitimate commerce will thrive.
Essentially, this is a marriage acceptable to both free enterprise and the general public at large. It is the revolution we have got to have.
THE UNIVERSAL ECONOMY GIVES FREEDOM TO EVERYBODY.
Money and International "Exchange Systems" are Corrupt.
The trading and sales across foreign exchange markets by Hedge Funds and other traders of Currency, Derivatives and Futures are open to fraudulent activity.The value of such trades was in the trillions of dollars daily far greater than the combined GDP totals of the worlds trading Nations.Millions of dollars are being made selling "Rights" to "Rights" and not actually producing anything.
These trades can and do distort Markets by amassing rights to oil, for example, thereby creating a manufactured shortage and forcing up the price. That in turn will exert unnatural tension in our economies forcing up commodity prices for us all. We can manage without these.
This type of Money Market can be used for laundering illicit money. It is also capable of bringing whole economies down and must be disbanded.
Currency trading in particular, when traded by powerful Hedge Funds in great volumes, can cause instability in targeted economies making it necessary for Governments to step in to provide support. Domestic economies are severely disrupted. This is manipulation purely for the sake of making profits for a few individuals. We can stop this too.
In The Universal Economy, each Nation or group of Nations Trading as Blocks will each have a Domestic Currency that circulates internally and does not have any direct relevance to any International Currency. The International Currency, which ultimately should be one currency common to all international trading Nations, will be traded by Governments or it's nominees, through it's Banks, at Exchange Rates set by governments, where possible, embedded in trade agreements which will fairly reflect the economic and general welfare of the Nations.
For example, all trades must have a stated reason for wishing to purchase a domestic currency, at this point the exchange can be reviewed in the light of desirability and refused if necessary. Obviously those who require exchange for legitimate use within the domestic economy may be accorded favour at the Governments pleasure. The Government takes in the International Currency and issues the agreed amount of Domestic. Yes, there will be premiums for these services.
When domestic currency wishes to leave it too will be charged a premium. After all we would have allowed the use of our Nations Free, and Tax Free, infrastructure and Labour Market, for which they should expect to make a contribution. Such premiums need not be so high as to discourage the interaction of Commerce and Industry. The Universal Economy will be a near perfect environment for legitimate entrepreneurs.
Since all credit and Capital for use Domestically will be created by the Government the need to borrow from International Markets for the purposes of building infrastructure and our domestic house building, will be severely reduced. The Captains of Industry can negotiate directly with Government and Trading Banks.
Clearly, paying for imports will still be a function regulated by Export Income and other external earnings. The new opportunities are endless and we should do very nicely.
A new indicator of GDP will be the level of government created Infrastructure.
Uncontrolled Personal Debt and Unregulated Interest Rates Hurt Families Disproportionately.
There must be set a level of Income below which it will be forbidden for individuals to be given Credit. Others may assume responsibility if willing. Creating Mortgage Accounts that allow re-draw to people on limited incomes should also cease. Family homes must be protected.
Credit Card and other Personal Borrowing must be allowed in accordance with prudent income-equity ratios overseen by strict repayment stipulations.Ultimately the credit manager may elect to relax credit restrictions based on trust and individual reputation, which indicates the banks willingness to assume risk . Uncontrolled Personal Borrowing is too easily channelled into consumer booms which distort the Economy creating unemployment and hurting families most.
Since Government will be the creator of much Domestic Credit it will be possible to control the level of interest percentage set for family home borrowing and to maintain a fixed rate. Families need certainty in order to plan and be able to live within budget. Government will only provide this service to the lower paid who are building or buying modest homes, the private Sector then takes over. Of course if the Private Sector will comply with this criteria then nothing will stop them.
Families, who by definition, have the largest weekly expenses for just about everything, as well as certainty and security of tenure will be hurt disproportionately when unemployment comes calling, will be protected in their homes and tenancies.
By advocating to create the Universal Economy you will be helping to protect future families because such problems will then be non existent.
Also, all those in the community who need it will be given a Social Wage the only qualification for which will be that you live and breathe. The Social wage will continue to be paid well into and beyond and during any period of gainful employment, including retirement years. The Social Wage provided to families will reflect the size and basic living costs of family appropriately.
The Universal Economy will thus provide a suitable environment to enable all families to flourish and the children have every good opportunity to develop into respected law-abiding citizens. Children need at least one parent to guide them whilst the other is working and the Universal Economy facilitates that option for all who wish to exercise it..
THE LIVES OF PEOPLE NEED NOT BE SUBJECT TO THE CAPRICIOUS NATURE OF CAPITAL. REGARDS, THOMASTHEAUSSIEBATTLER

Amazing, no one has referred to E.F. Schumacher's Small is Beautiful, or was he way off the mark?

menos_poblacion

Research shows that in India, when poor women were given the opportunity to get some education, immediately their family size dropped.

I think putting too much emphasis on population growth is taking our attention away from more immediate problems like biofuels, free trade, industrial agricultue that should get urgent attention to alleviate the global food crises.

Negative population growth is desirable, but don't ignore the more immediate problems just because that is what corporations and governments would like you to do.

Ms. Lateef (of the World Institute): You list four reasons for rising global food prices. Why do you ignore population growth? This is a finite planet, and as demand rises due to more people, this will be a driver of rising food prices. We have a FINITE supply of food that can be produced (and a FINITE supply of oil reserves, also), so simple supply-and-demand principles are at work here- for oil as well as food.

Granted, the current food crisis is not due solely to population growth, there are several other contributing factors, including those that you mentioned. But population growth must be considered as a major cause for the worsening predicament that is occuring with food price hikes worldwide. Please, Ms. Lateef, think about the benefits of reducing the future growth of the demand side of the equation.

ecomonroe:

In re: "WE blame politicians but WE elect them...until WE change WE will continue to elect these same men."

WE who?

What's this WE stuff?

I'm not sure which country you are native to, but in my country, the Republic of the U.S., WE have no inherent democracy, thus WE have no direct vote thus no politicians who are directly elected by WE the Public.

The onus of blame lies elsewhere my good fellow...

TIME WILL COME TO EAT THE RICH.

Rebel Farmer,

Excellent commentary! I believe you've listed enough criteria to get the ball rolling with 'action' which we can all participate in by becoming involved in local efforts under our control.

Most of you have good comments, and for my way of thinking, all options are open, but I think Rebel Farmer laid it out reasonably well.

Seaweed:

I beg to differ. This is what really happens when governments cede control to TransNational Grain Monopolies, who, in turn, control the food supply chain!

Storming the Bastile might not be an option if they storm you instead.

You can have your guns and ammo, but they will not protect you if the government decides to bomb your house.

When things get tight, the army will probably attack the people to get food and land.

You can and should fight back, but they have got the planes not us....

See you all in the FEMA camps.

george brose Indeed the only real progress I have seen in looking at the history of the last centuries infrastructure is computer networking, pretty much EVERYTHING else has gone backwards. The post WWII Levittotwn suburbs and sprawl has turned out to be a sociological and ecological disaster.

kman2

"Totalitarian agriculture" is a major problem. Christian Aid pointed out 10 years ago that patented GM seeds would increase hunger as it puts too much control in too few hands. Directors of corporations can decide who eats and who does'nt.

Maybe you would like to comment on the above while I find the Christian Aid report titled "Selling Suicide: farming, false promises and genetic engineering in developing countries" , May 1999

IAMMYSELF, "Local growing and foraging is the way to do it. Totalitarian agriculture (aka, agribusiness) has brought us to where we are"

Foraging? what in heavens sake are you talking about? Do you think modern wheat just grows wild someplace? I am just trying to picture 330 million Canadians and Americans "foraging" "Sir, can you direct me to the nearest wild fields of bagels, frozen organic pizza and Diet Coke please?"

I am not even going to comment on "totalitarian agriculture"

Sixty five years ago, people planted victory gardens to deal with food shortages and high costs. Today we probably put more money into Chemlawn and other lawn care services than it took to feed the entire country in 1943. Plus do we have any idea of the health costs of all the crap we put in our yards to have green grass? It just isn't necessary for survival. I applaud those who can hide a car in their front yard.

I have ten years to go to pay off my manageable mortgage and retire at 75. If I retired now, healthcare premiums would force me be a Walmart greeter. Nevertheless, we chose to keep people on respirators and other life maintenance equipment long after they have worn out their bodies through poor lifestyles or health practices. Babies doomed to suffer multiple daily seizures are kept alive for years, because we are not counseled to be able to let go of life and stop suffering. But we can sanction the killing of healthy criminals.

I've calculated that it will take 7300 gallons of gas to get to work during the next ten years, because our public transportation sucks. Seventy years ago, my aunt made the same commute on an electric powered train from Dayton, OH to Springfield, OH. That inter-urban ran from Cleveland to Cincinnati and networked around the state of OHIO. We need to go retro in some aspects of our society.

jstevens

You don't industialise in the unsustainable way the West traditionally has, that certainly brings the world to its brink.

A good holistic education and improved living standards can be achieved without destroying the planet. 100% renewable energy, 100% sustainable organic agriculture, all industires must operate on closed systems so they don't pollute the planet. Denmark insists on closed industieal systems. The Scandenavian countries offer a far higher average quality of life to their citizens than the USA. (US ranked 11th last time I looked even if its average per capita income is higher- quality of life and per capita income are different)

Giving food to poor coutries in the long term is disasterous, it creates dependency, help them get out of a food crises by making them self sustaining, teach them to produce food and other goods locally. If there has to be trade, promote fair trade as opposed to free trade.

Improved living standards don't have to be wasteful and unsustainable, and I repeat, good education and better living standards in the medium term always bring about negative population growth without draconian population control methods.

If the money spent on the wars had instead being spent on improved education and sustainable economies that don't rape the planet, theh population would never have reached present levels.

I've personally seen the urban gardens of Havana. I've seen the green markets where this produce is sold. Cuba is leading the world in the study of soil desertification. Black beans and rice provide as much protein as beef and potatoes. Cuban ice cream is the best in the world, so they must be doing something right!

Infant mortality rates also affect population. The higher the infant mortality the more children people will have knowing that only some will survive.

Education and increased living standards do appear to stabilize population growth, however in the wealthy countries where this occurs, it is at the expense of exploitation of resources. In the US, our population growth is somewhat stable, however, our per capita consumption of everything from water to food to gas is exorbitant.

What you say, Andrew Taynton, sounds good; but how do you propose effecting these changes worldwide without industrializing the entire world and pushing the world closer to the brink?

Every shred of evidence shows that food given to poor countries causes population explosions. That's not to say people should be left to starve, but aid must be tied to population control.

jstevens

You don't need population control and more food does not mean more people born.

If you educate people so they can increase their living standards, they naturally have smaller families. Research has shown this in Europe and elsewhere. Negative population growth which is desirable can be achieved without control.

In addition, it is the underlying agricultural and economic model that is causing starvation not too many mouths to feed.

I suggest you read: Change in farming can feed the world- http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/16/8327/

You don't need to slash remaining rainforests to increase agricilture either.

Why is it so difficult for people to understand that good education and increasing living standards naturally reduces births and brings about negative population growth?

All according to plan ...

"If you control the oil you control the country; if you control food, you control the population." Henry Kissinger

There is perhaps enough food available to feed everyone in the world, however, it is only by turning food into a chemical concoction, by draining lakes and rivers, and by slashing the remaining forests for agriculture that the current amount of food production is possible. Furthermore, in poor countries, more food means more people that will be born into misery and starvation. The Earth is at its limit. Feeding the poor without considering population control is actually sadism disguised as altruism.

i agree with rebel farmer its got to GO LOCAL, who knows maybe we should have listened to the anti federalists at the convention and not granted so much power to the federal government-

i live in NY/long island and we have such and abundance of local farms out east in suffolk county and upstate NY yet my grocery stores are filled with food from california and south america, EVEN THE HEALTH FOOD STORES, they think we would rather buy organic from chile than conventional from new york

For me, I try to look at the biggest expense for people will incure in our lifetime, BUYING A HOUSE, my dream is to build my own house, could you imagine if took the amish approach and the community would build each other new houses, im sure we have carpenters, plumbers, electricians, architects all living on our block that we dont even know,

and add to that each of us growing our own food, THAN DAMN, would any of us have to work full time anymore?

The only other expenses would be health insurance and cars/travel-and if we all began to eat right our medical bills would decline greatly, this personal training who has truly taken the art the next level, PAUL CHEK, AT THE CHEKINSTITUTE.COM, believes exorcise + organic eating + stressfree = perfect health, and he practices what he preaches, and claims to have NOT BEEN SICK IN THE PAST 30 YEARS!!!!

So everyone right now, take your check books, and add up your monthly spending on mortgage, food, and medicine/doctor bills, what percentage of your total income is that?

Lets go local, start building communities again, throw out the tv's and lets gather with our nieghbors on a monthly basis, i know i rarely talk to mine- if we dont talk to our own neighbors how do we expect our 19 and 20 year olds trained in combat to go into iraq and help talk out there differences?

WE blame politicians but we elect them, on a spiritual level they are a microcosm of our country, just like us, UNTIL WE CHANGE we will continue to elect these same men-
peace

We're too fat and lazy of a country to ever give up anything for the sake of some brown people thousands of miles away.

http://www.ryanhartman.wordpress.com

How Evil. How Obvious. This drivel about food-aid is throwing crumbs to starving children instead of showing them how to grow wheat and setting up the very simple infrastructure needed to farm.

Exactly, mikepeters. Local growing and foraging is the way to do it. Totalitarian agriculture (aka, agribusiness) has brought us to where we are. Local, small scale, community, individual. This will feed most people and bring population down.

lilly May 20th, 2008 12:34 pm

Reminds me of books by Daniel Quinn. food is the deciding factor in population size.

I've read Quinn's books and he's absolutely right. Unfortunately, we, the Takers, still believe we can live outside of nature's laws. Because of that, the chickens are indeed coming home to roost.

Recycle1 May 20th, 2008 1:39 pm

Overpopulation is indeed a problem, but we have hungry people NOW and the fact that the earth's carrying load is too great doesn't fill a poor child's belly.

Indeed. Compassion is called for, but we need to be clear that what we are doing is going to help. Throwing a liquid clearly marked Flammable on a burning house is not a help.

professor truth May 20th, 2008 2:36 pm

A courageous but unpopular policy would be food rationing, especially in industrialized countries where massive waste occurs. The alternative is misery and death for hundreds of millions of poor.

Agreed. I'd love to see a formal policy. Yet...should we really wait for the government to dictate rationing? Won't it be too late once that finally, at long last, happens? I mean, look at how our government reacted after hurricane Katrina.

We need to act individually - for ourselves, our families, and our world. We must act individually!

As I posted on another "food" article today, here is a small thing that we can do:
freerice.com
to help while we debate which other ideas, plans and goals we want to achieve.

Ticonderoga, that isn't necessarily communism; it is Justice.

How the Cubans dealt with a food crises

I have posted this elsewhere but think it is food for thought, excuse pun:

In 2002 an Oxfam America report found that the US embargo of Cuba has turned a food crisis into a sustained recovery of food production. By decentralizing agricultural production, initiating ecological practices and opening farmers markets, Cuba has been able to turn around the severe crisis of the 1990s. While the World Health Organization recommends an intake of 2,700 calories
per day, the caloric intake in Cuba reached its low point of 1,863 calories per capita in 1994. However, the caloric intake in Cuba has since climbed 40%. Cuba has a unique model for agriculture, with land reform laws limiting the size of private landholdings and the government mixing market mechanisms with state controls. According to this report Cuban farmers are also doing more with less, imports of pesticides and herbicides actually dropped from 1995 to
1998, yet food production rose over the same period. Animal traction has replaced tractors in many farms and organic fertilizers and pest controls are used instead of expensive chemical-based inputs.

CROOKED7 said it right, and this UN committee is only talking about "four structural negative changes" that make a bad situation worse.
Land Reform is THE solution.
Add to this problem is the fact that regional wars and internal power struggles cause a great majority of the hunger in Africa.

These "four structural changes" that might make things even worse for the world's poor are still minor compared to the basic reasons for their plight:
WAR and what MEG MAY pointed out greed..greed...greed...

IF American NRA members were starving, and living right next door to vast plantations of Cotton, Coffee, Cacao, Tea, what would they do??

Also MIKEPETERS: I agree with most of what you say, but drop the "teach everyone to grow wheat..." is just wrong.
There are traditional grain crops for most third world areas that work for their climate - forget the wheat.

Gardening can be a relaxing form of meditation and it feeds you at the same time. Too many humans spoil the planet. Think globally shop locally. Other options are pestilence, famine, war, and everbodies favorite DEATH! Get ready for a new way of life, or else.

Tree Frog, I like your approach. Simple and straight forward.

Look folks, all of you are right. Every one has an angle on the elephant in the room. Only the thing is so huge, none of us can seem to envision the whole animal we are trying to describe.

For me it all goes back to what Mother Nature gives us in return for sustainably manageing the gifts of the this planet. It is true that there is currently enough food to feed the current human population of the earth and that distribution is a huge problem in the current situation. It is also true that any population number that cannot be maintained by the limited resources of the planet is a major problem. It is also true that the richfilth's never ending greed and pursuit of power at the expense of everything and everyone else on the planet is a major cause of the mess we are in.

So, given that everyone has a small piece of the problem, how do we figure out where to go from here with the tools that we have? This may sound really stupid, but I think we have to think small. As in local/regional.

We really don't have any control over where we have been and all the mistakes that have been made. So pointing fingers isn't really going to help much. We really don't have any control over the richfilth, the power brokers, the governments, the war machines, or any of those that have brought us to this point and don't give a damn about us wage slaves anyway. And we certainly can't rely on these evil entities to provide any meaningful long term solutions to the problems we face. We really can't stop the corporations from rapeing the earth and its people for profit in time to really have an impact on the extinction of life as we have come to know it. The only thing we really have control of is ourselves, individually, and how we purposefully choose to act or react.

So if you accept that there is no existing power that is going to deliver us from this disaster, what are we supposed to do? Well, people react differently when faced with reality. Some choose some form of denial. Some are like deer caught in the headlights and become numb and unable to act. Some chose to end their lives one way or another. Some withdraw entirely and become survivalists. Some will prey on the weak and profit from the whole thing for as long as they can.

And then there are those that know that the only way to get through this thing is to accept that we cannot ever have the lifestyle we have been blessed with for a few short years. The last 100 years have just been a weird blip in the human experience that was brought to us by carbon fuels that were developed over thousands of years. And when they are used up or just start running short of demand, life is going to change forever for all future generations that manage to survive. Survival now means decentralization and relocalization. It means learning how to get together with neighbors to cooperatively meet the needs of the local cummunity. And providing food and water are right up there on the top of the list.

This problem of a food crisis is going to come to America faster than you might think. Even if some food is available, it is going to be unaffordable for many of us. And because America imports over 40% of its food, distribution is going to become a huge problem very quickly. So, work with your neighbors and your city/county governments for solutions.

We really do need to work together and share. Our survival depends on it.

I cannot believe all the disinfo in this article. What dangerous rubbish is being spread here!

This food crisis is being orchestrated and is the result of a genocidal mindset.

Please read ALL 12 hunger myths: http://foodfirst.org/en/12myths

And then please visit http://allinharmony.org because humans are NOT omnivores but rather herbivores who need 1/50th the amount of land to remain healthy as is currently being used to supply the typical Western style meatarian diet.

This entire article is propaganda to justify policies of genocide by starvation.

I simply cannot believe all the disinfo in this article. What rubbish is being spread here!

And please see this video, The World According to Monsanto. Its message is urgent. http://100777.com/node/1805

As lily said above, Daniel Quinn has a lot to say about food and population. His books, "Ishmael" and "The Story of B" are great reads, also.

Very briefly, he makes the point that under pretty much all conditions, population is directly proportional to food supply. So, when food supply is increased, population increases. If food supply stays the same, population stays the same. These seem to be rather iron rules of biology. Nothing about these rules means that people shouldn't try to find "progressive" ways to help people lower population -- projects like raising female education and empowerment, encouraging condom use, and so forth, may be very helpful and humane. But what this rule suggests that may be harder for many to come to terms with is that it may not be a good idea to keep increasing the food supply, as much as that appears in the short run to be a necessary humane effort.

I think that the crux of it is to decide what the result would be in human terms to maintain a constant or even gradually lowering food supply. In the first case it means that population would stay the same. People who are sure we need to produce more food at present must think that keeping food supply tomorrow the same as today would necessarily result in some form of human disaster, so they would say, "Yes, the population will stay the same by many infants starving, whole groups of people dying of famine, etc." But would this be the case? Why can we not have a steady state (or slowly decreasing) population without it being some kind of horror? Imagine a pond of koi where the same amount of food is provided year after year and the number of koi stays the same year after year, you would not be necessarily imagining koi starvation or die-off. You would just be thinking that some koi are dying and others are being born, and that in general things were working out fine. Why would the human world not be the same if food were constant? (And by the way, notice that the koi population stays the same without the need of providing them with little condoms or sending in UNESCO teams of advisors. All that is necessary is to keep the food supply constant.) I know some people will bristle to hear humans and koi being compared, but the point is that both are biological organisms subject to the same rules of nature, no matter what their brainsize may be. What we need to find out is what it would really mean in human terms, and not in a koi pond, to keep the food supply constant. And if we investigate it and decide that it doesn't equate to mass starvation or die-off, then we should agitate for the food supply to NOT be increased. Perhaps we would find it could be reduced without disastrous effects, and then we would really be on a path with some possible positive outcome.

Sorry to be so long winded, but it's not so simple to explain. Read Daniel Quinn!

I'm really tired of all the propaganda, we can feed ourselves we just can't do it the way we have been taught. Most people have lost the ability to provide their own food and depend on greedy corporate interests for thier basic needs. We don't use resources that are right in front of our noses because we have been taught not to, we even have laws that prevent attending to care for ourselves and our earh home. You cannot sell the land the people walk on, but I guess you can rent it to them.

Old Hippy,

Yes, the same thought has previously crossed my mind more than once; though it hasn't for some time now. Still, the analogy to 'Soylent Green' is fitting to consider for people like the ruling elites of the West. Whether or not they ever do resort to such acts is yet to be seen, and I don't think, and hope, they ever will; but they've already proven to us that they are this [evil], nevertheless.

As for the people posting about overpopulation being a real and serious problem; it's apparently a MYTH.

Now, and assuming that it is a myth, this is different from saying that it was ever right for, f.e., the churches to demand of their flocks to keep producing children (some adding, 'or else you'll go to hell when you die!', too), which was a dead wrong thing of them to demand. It was the imperialist, world conquest and domination schmucks of the churches that made such religiously unfoundable, anti-Christ demands.

Some people had large families because they were poor and figured that the more chilren they had, the more likely one would make it out of poverty; when logic, imo, would teach the opposite.

Nonetheless, overpopulation is not the present problem. Western Imperialist GREED [is] the problem.

The reality is that the earth is in overdrive and it's sucking us up with it. If anything survives this mess, in the long run, it won't be us!

Collect enough bonus points on your rewards card and you have your choice between a free tank of gas or a shotgun.

Howard Zinn recounts that the view from a bomber at 20,000 feet eliminates any sense of the human destruction in the city below.

I'll bet that the view of human destruction from the cockpit of a B2 over Tehran is not that different than the view of human starvation from the luxury seating on any corporate jet over any third-world city.

medic6869 "People's needs should not be for profit. As many have stated B4 me, we have enough food in the world and the technology to expand food production, but the problem is distribution. Distribution should be based on people's needs."

Interesting... maybe this food 'shortage' is a ploy to get Americans to accept the North American Superhighway and the Amero. Gas too, probably.

I mentioned the Abraham Lincoln brigades because asshat "joseph paquette" was schilling for straight up old school 40s fascist: Father Coughlin.

It is my understand the Abraham Lincoln Brigades fought against the fascist in Spain.

People's needs should not be for profit. As many have stated B4 me, we have enough food in the world and the technology to expand food production, but the problem is distribution. Distribution should be based on people's needs.

We are part of a class. The working class. Individual solutions will not solve our problems. As a conscious class, with our own program, our own class interests, we must unite as a class with workers in all countries, and demand distribution of the worlds resources be based on people's needs.

What a choice: to be burned up in a nuclear war or to starve to death? Look both have advantages and disadvantages.

If you slowly starve to death then, for a period, you will lose all that obesity and become slim, taut and terrific just like the magazine show. You'll also have less chance of a heart attack.

If you get burned (but not liquefied) for a period you'll have that suntan you've always wanted. As well, the radiation could kill any tumors that may be growing in your body.

I guess the disadvantage is that, in both cases, your life will be short. Some people however might see this as an advantage.

Humans are fickle!

P.S. Should all holy books be shot? Check my blog.

McFood, McPeople, McSolution, McProblem, McDemocracy, McBiofuel, McSoybeans, McEconomy, McFuture, McYou and McMe.

joseph paquette Father Coughlin was anti Semitc fascist, another reason I recommend keeping your powder dry folks, is asshat straight up racist brown shirts like this fool. Unfortunately economic depressions are not just an opening for the left but for real fascists who co-opt the rhetoric of populism for their own evil ends. Remember the Lincoln Brigades in Spain!

Coco absolutely right, now what are we going to do about that? Hint the oligarchs aren't going to wake up with an epiphany one morning and say "gosh I sure have been a bad person, I renounce my multiple vacation homes, Ferrari, yachts, and bank vault full of gold and diamonds, and henceforth resolve to live like mother Theresa or an eco-hippy." While we might all wish that to happen it won't and denial won't make it any more likely, for there really are people like "Mr. Burns" on the Simpsons in this world who can sleep 100% soundly as total heartless greedballs. That leaves 2 options:

1. Put in a garden, shop at co-ops, ride bikes, non violent protest, etc.

2. Storm the Bastille...

For now I am sticking to #1 but I am not so naive as to think that #2 might not be necessary or even inevitable. I for one recommended keeping the axles of the catapult greased even if you aren't going to use it next week or even next year...

Obama has yet to mention "The New World Order"
If candidates running for office have not noticed the destruction of our economy and the distruction of our industrial base, who in
Washington knows about it?
We need someone with backbone who is not afraid
to address the issue, Bring back
Father Coughlin!!

MEG

you are correct. the operative word here is GREED. and another word we might apply, (which is sorely lacking) is SHARING...............

Over population is not the problem. There are enough crops produced to provide everyone in the world with a diet consisting of at least 3,000 calories a day, which is above the recommended amount. Although production can be improved, distribution is clearly part of the problem.

One component that seems to be missing from the numerous articles I've read on the food crisis, is the need for land reform in developing nations. While large scale production is more productive in terms of output per labor unit, small scale farming is more productive in others. Small farmers tend to cultivate a larger percentage of their land, grow more crops per year on a given amount of land, grow higher value crops and produce greater yields per acre. Additionally while land ownership in developing nations is often very concentrated, large segments of privately owned land remain idle.

THE USA DECLARED THAT CORN WAS WORTH MORE FOR FUEL THAN FOOD AND THE WORLD RESPONDED.BIO-FUELS WERE THE ONLY CROPS WORTH GROWING AND WHEN FARMERS AROUND THE WORLD STOPPED PLANTING FOR FOOD, NOT A WORD WAS SAID. NOW WE HAVE PLANTS WORTH AS MUCH AS OIL, POLLUTE MORE THAN OIL, AND NO ONE CAN AFFORD FUEL OR FOOD. GREED IS MORE POWERFUL THAN REASON,
AND WHEN THE DIRT IS USELESS FROM OVER PLANTING WE WILL HAVE NEITHER FUEL OR FOOD AND AN AWSWER WHY EVERYONE IS STARVING.

It's astonishing to watch the end of life on Earth as we know it. Time to decide what happens when you die. Time to quit being a selfish hypocrite. Time to say goodbye.

Goodbye!

"The United Nations, governments and other involved organisations must consult with, trust, and listen to local farmers in order to empower them toward self sufficiency, instead of depending on a few scientists and companies"

Most of these people who advocate corporate control over agriculture have never known independence. They and their social networks have always been tethered to the corporation or similar organization. They might buy a ranch and clear brush for the camera, but they have no idea what land, water and food rights for all means. They are kind of like the guy Americans would like to have a beer with.

But now we're going to have pizza with an urban minority kid and let God bestow blessings on us for that. Most urban minority kids can't afford the pizza now that Exxon is taking 50 cents profit per dollar on its embedded energy. But this kid is special - he has corporate sponsors. Maybe all the kids and farmers will have corporate sponsors some day. Naaaa. Instead of that, we had better start demanding land, water and food rights for all.

Annebrit has it right and if you think the oligarchy is going to give up because we wave a few signs around you are kidding yourself. THAT is why as a hard lefty I agree with "conservatives" that gun control is a terrible idea (though for different reason of course).

Freefood EVERYONE should have a garden at this point not only is it a MUCH more ecologically sound both in terms of transport and production method of obtaining food, but a useful survival skill to boot.

Web walk has it right it's both, the metaphor I use to scale this complex situation down to human size is the following. Suppose someone is selling lemonade out of a hundred gallon tank on a warm summer day at a festival for 1.75 per cup.. In the morning life is good, the temperature is cool, the lines are short, everyone gets more than enough lemonade even in the giant gulp cup (only 2.25). As the day goes on the lines get longer and people want more, and for many hours it's provided, then people get cocky, I can wait they think, there will be lemonade forever, they say "that's the way it's always been why should it change." Around 6:30 in the evening for the dinner rush the lemonade stand's owners notice, hmmm 10 gallons left, 3 hours of festival to go, it's still hot with a long line, I'll jack prices up to 3.50 a cup for the small cup and make bank. People grumble and pay it and start yelling about profiteering which is 100% true, but notice it's BOTH profiterring and limited supply. Now the profiteering will cause people to say he's just jacking prices and must have another 100 gallon tank and that scarcity is a scam, no reason then not to get the big cup forever, oops. Lemonade stand apologists OTH will say supplies are truly low and that's "what the market will bear" why shouldn't I make bank even if people suffer, oops. BOTH are wrong the lemonade IS running out and also it COULD be sold cheaper. And in the meantime why is no one brewing solar Sun tea ice tea? Could it be the Hexxon Lmonadearchy won't make as much on Sun tea? Could be...

Now apply this same model to food. oil etc. To those Libertarians who would say well competition wouldn't allow that to happen there is more than one lemonade stand, I'd respond yes and if collusion between the lemonade stands means they all profit (i.e. it's in their self interest) then they will collude. This is not mysterious or conspiratorial BTW, OPEC ring a bell? And that's even assuming no lemonade stand monopoly...

I'm going to plant a garden next week. If I can afford seeds.

Even with perfect food distribution, a large reduction in meat consumption, more sustainable agricultural practices, the food and transport base is still greatly dependent on fossil fuels and irrigation. Climate change is happening because we have to grow food and eat. There is maybe room for sustainability with less than 1 billion people. More than 6 billion is a plague. Given our propensity for not getting along with each even in times of resource plenty, and not caring for the environment, the apocalypse is coming none to soon.

Urban and rural poor are both created by the "laissez-faire" dismantling of public institutions that protect the people from the parasitic elites. Who is the government is going to benefit - the people or the elites? The elites will answer "let's split it down the middle", which means the elites will suck half of the people's blood instead of all of it.

Annebrit, Ruling elites ALWAYS need slaves, serfs, low wage earners, etc. in order to survive as they do.

The problem is that the ruling class don't need us anymore.

They have taken our land, our resources, and our labour, and soon they will take back the wealth they "granted" the middelclass and the "developed" countries for their cooperation. As they have done many times before. Now it's time to get rid of the excessive population - first by starvation and then by diseases and of course war and different other kinds of genoside.

Welcome to the New World Order.

The 'housing/capital-Crisis' in the US was expressly-designed to insure worthless 'financial-instruments' would be 'happily-plentiful' for their wealthy/Deviant-Holders to palm them off on our Treasury as 'Collateral' for low-interest 'Loans' that would immediately find their way into Commodity-Investments -- guaranteed to sharply-raise the 'value'/costs of all "real-wealth" (meaning: wheat, corn, steel, iron, copper, oil, etc.).

Firstly, we were 'screwed' by lending-agencies which are supposed to 'pre-qualify' home/business-mortgages/loans' (then the actual 'Funds' for those 'liar-loans' came from our-Government...NOT from the lending-institutions, which just get to 'lay back, and collect what they can'). Secondly, at Fed-Reserve direction, those worthless-Loans were placed into 'worthless-instruments' that our 'Hedge-Funders' re-sold, everywhere (especially to vulnerable Pension-plans!), and our complicit Ratings-Agencies gave their 'Seal of Approval' to. Lastly, the Fed and Congress allow these worthless-instruments to be paid-for by the Taxpayer YET AGAIN, by allowing them as 'Collateral' against held-low-interest 'neo-Loans' to wealthy-assholes, who take the Good-money-after-Bad and run directly to the Commodity-Exchanges -- to buy-up (and jack-up the prices-for!) ALL the food/metals/energy that any 'civilization'-requires.

What a wonderful PLOT!
Beats the hell out of the British-inspired/Fed-Reserve-enacted "Great Depression" -- doesn't it?
Trillions 'lost' in-the-process, mostly so that a future-Administration can strip us all of SocSec, pensions, health-care, education, and everything-else that "made America great"...! AND kill-off most of the 3rd-World, to-boot!

Have a Banker over, for Dinner -- tonight! [Really...have one FOR dinner!!!]
Or, a Bilderberger, a G-8-member, a Think-Tanker, anyone from the IMF or World Bank or CoFR, a hedge-funder, a Congress-critter, a 'Realist', anyone with a "seat on Wall Street"...or 'fill in the Blank'! [I hear they taste like Pork-belly's ...which are getting rapidly-unaffordable, also...]

Interesting. With half the world's population living on $1 per day we have...

Restaurant's $175 burger comes with cheese, truffles...and gold

...it must be time for another Great Flood or a little mad cow!

The problem is not too many people. The problem is GREED, GREED, GREED. In a healthy state, Mother Earth is all about abundance for all.

andersdl,

"This is a money problem, not a food problem."

There certainly is a money problem. There also certainly is a food problem.

Basic ecological science describes the natural relationships among different kinds of life forms on Earth. A top-of-the-food-chain predatory omnivore like Humans should have a vastly smaller population than it does.

The steps we have taken to keep the Earth supplying enough food to support our ridiculously over-extended population have turned the majority of the Earth's "net primary product" (the total mass of all living material on Earth) into fodder for our giant industrial food machine. Intertwined with our burning of fossilized hydrocarbons to power our food machine (and transport and manufacturing etc.), as well as the sheer impact of our spreading urban areas, our giant food machine is pushing the limits of its capacity to feed us, and is also disrupting and destabilizing the very living systems of the Earth that everything else is based on.

To focus on the very real money problem in an effort to assert that the food problem does not exist is a grave mistake.

It is true that there are steps that could be taken to fairly share the food that is being produced, which would immediately provide food to people who are starving. But it is also true that humanity is bumping up against real limits on the capacity of the Earth to supply enough food for our ridiculously over-extended population, and that the destabilized Earth will likely soon lose its capacity to even maintain current levels of food production for human use. Simply dismissing the "food crisis" as illusionary is not very smart as we head into this future of destabilized living systems on Earth.

What just might happen if something isn't done about this is a world-wide communist revolution, with the poor finally taking back what the rich have stolen from them.

And the rich know it.

I'm sorry if I missed something....

Pete is right we need those millions of small things... Now!

Does anybody recall the movie "Soylent Green" I do. And I'm
beginning to think the premise in the movie is closer than
anyone wants to admit.

If you are paying attention, (and I know you have) all the crisis are working together in multi tsunamis. Earthquakes, global warming, and this is just the beginning of our awareness of it.

No wonder those that live for distractions and entertainment are happier or maybe should be.

Add the problems of over population food and fuel shortages and economies based on more growth, and consumption and throw in corruption and delusions of supremacy and the War economy and our Fed Reserve system of more and more unpayable debt adding to the Falling dollar.... jeeeez We are Screwed! and they say I am the optimist in the crowd.

This is a money problem, not a food problem.

If the US Federal Reserve had not been on an interest cutting spree early in this decade and again since August 2007, the speculators would not have the boatlaods of cheap money they have been using to drive up food and energy prices.

A courageous but unpopular policy would be food rationing, especially in industrialized countries where massive waste occurs. The alternative is misery and death for hundreds of millions of poor.

"Furthermore, countries need to be encouraged to relax or avoid export restrictions on food. This only exacerbates the global problem. We need to take a global approach," she said.
There is a problem with the free exportation of food. With the rise in food prices commercial farmers have every incentive to export, but to countries with many people that can pay the higher prices and not to populations at subsistence levels of poverty. In a lot of countries the big farmers are exporting more food rather than sell it to their own people at affordable prices. The logical solution is in intensive support for peasant agriculture for local consumption.

Overpopulation is indeed a problem, but we have hungry people NOW and the fact that the earth's carrying load is too great doesn't fill a poor child's belly.

Truthmonger,

We've passed our limit. We reached 6.6 billion out of sheer momentum, even as the props were crumbling from under the whole misguided "be fruitful and multiply" enterprise. We were seduced decades ago by the "success" of the Green Revolution - and an expanding global "economy" - and put our recently-awakened concerns on the back burner.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I've read - during the past couple of months - a set of prognostications about what the world will be like when we reach 9 billion, or 12 billion. We'll never reach those numbers: the Malthusian catastrophe has begun. Once those 800 million in danger of starvation actually succumb to it (how long does that take?), we're a noticeably smaller population. And a perfect storm of confluences (environmental degradation, Peak Oil, global warming, aquifer depletion, rising tensions between nuclear-armed nation-states) guarantees that that reduced population will soon become even smaller.

There are contributors to this forum who will take issue with what I've said: "Malthusian" is a dirty word. To them, I offer the following recommendation: hide and watch. Or try to figure out how best to manage a humanitarian crisis that's going to dwarf everything the human species has had to endure so far. Be sure to share your insights with those of us who are scratching our bewildered heads.

Reminds me of books by Daniel Quinn. food is the deciding factor in population size. if the human species were smart, it would have limited its numbers long, long ago.

Between America's heavily subsidized farm exports (dumping) and IMF (loan sharking) control of 'free' markets we have put the world's farmers out of business one by one. The so called Green Revolution, GMOs and other toxic brews from Monsanto have exhausted our Mother Earth. A tiny few will be filthy rich while the rest of us starve. The world dies with a whimper.

What a better world this would be if we spread population and birth control education instead of trying to see how many humans can fit on Spaceship Earth (I think we've reached our limit).

When you burn food to run your Hummers and ATV's, this is what happens. Duh!