Welcome login | signup
Language en es fr
OccupyForum

Forum Post: No Glass-Steagall = No Food

Posted 11 years ago on July 13, 2012, 12:24 a.m. EST by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

The United States is heading into a quarter century corn crop disaster, on the scale of 1988, when the drought-stricken harvest fell more than 40% from the year earlier. The condition of the 2012 corn crop, under searing heat and drought, is dramatically worsening in 18 states, which produce 92% of the national output, or one-third of the planet’s corn production (Figure 1). Corn losses today are more devastating to the food supply than in 1988, because at present, nearly 40% of the annual corn crop goes into ethanol; in 1988, it was under 5%.

Other crops and forage—hay, alfalfa, and pasture—are also withering. There is a wave of sell-off of cattle in the Midwest, because of the impossible expense of maintaining the herds as the costs of corn soar, and alternative rations likewise are costly and scarce. In the last three weeks, corn futures prices have jumped 38% on the Chicago Board of Trade. The only reason there is not overnight appearance of soaring meat prices for the consumer, is that so many animals are going to slaughter at present. But expect new rounds of price shocks.

Links in the world food chain are threatened all along the line, as shown by the profile of U.S. corn utilization in recent years, which now is facing sudden shortage: 37% of corn goes to ethanol; 35% to livestock feed; 17% of exports; 10% to direct human-consumption products (oil, starch, flour and meal, etc.). Overall, 48% of the national corn crop on July 2 was rated “good,” down from 56% the week before, which was down from 63% the week prior, and down from 72% rated “good” a month ago. Every Monday in the Summer crop season, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) does a summary crop-condition report, which, even accounting for its lies and jiggery-pokery, can’t cover up the glaring situation we now have. The furnace-like weather is scorching the fields.

What is required is a radical shift to a Glass-Steagall reorganization of banking to restore a nation-serving credit system, during which time, emergency measures can be initiated. These will involve compensatory planting in other hemispheres, through international international collaboration on the food supply; an immediate stoppage to corn-ethanol production; aid to livestock producers to retain and build back herds; price controls in the food chain; and floor/parity pricing for farmers. Plus, launching the North American Water and Power Alliance— NAWAPA XXI—post haste.

However, the Obama Administration policy—biofuels and everwilder speculation and hyperinflation, en route to mass famine—remains in place at present.

Particularly reprehensible, is the way that the Obama Agriculture Department plays down the reality. In its monthly crop report for May, the USDA said that there is no need to worry about the fact that—as they had admitted—U.S. corn supplies on hand were running low, even in danger of running out by August, before the September harvest will begin. The USDA asserted there would be a large and early 2012 corn crop, because there is a “statistical likelihood of return to trend” of rising yields in the 2012 crop, after yields fell for two years, and a larger area would be planted. So the empty bins will now be refilled!

3 Comments

3 Comments


Read the Rules
[-] 1 points by hchc (3297) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

I bet the idiots focus more on keeping the remaining going into the gas versus the grocery stores....

[-] 1 points by Nevada1 (5843) 11 years ago

Well said Arturo.

Africa, here we come.

Speculators, will make lots of money.

The 'Reign of Terror,' started because people could not afford flour.

The elite, "have a tiger by the tail".

[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 11 years ago

Thanks, and yes, it could turn out that way. All the more reason we need to take advantage of the opportunities emerging from certain influential factions in England today:

http://larouchepac.com/larouche/response-to-britain