Life After the Oil Crash

Deal With Reality or Reality Will Deal With You


Alpine Aire storable food reserves from Nitro-Pak:




ccc









Now is the time to invest in micro-solar equipment:





ccc







Learn to garden organically and to compost:





ccc





leap in food prices is a killer. They spend a majority of their income on food, and when the price goes up, they can't afford to feed themselves. Rising fuel and fertilizer costs, increased use of biofuels and climate change have all played a part. But less obvious causes have also had a profound effect on food prices.

Wall Street Journal: Food Panics Hit the United States

Editor's Note: LATOC Affiliate Nitro-Pak still has great deals and short shipping times on #10 cans of both dehydrated and freeze dried white rice. I had some links to bulk rice sales on Amazon but they've all sold out.

Food-related protests have been occurring worldwide, and in the U.S. now
major discounters are seeing runs on products, particularly rice, as both
Sam’s Club, the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. operated discounter, and Costco
Wholesale Corp. have seen shelves cleaned out of rice as consumers worry
about higher prices. "It is just unreal what can happen when we get fear
being spread as it is now." Sam’s Club has decided to put limits (or rations,
if you will) on the amount of 20-pound bags customers can purchase every
week, and Costco earlier this week said it was considering such limits as
well, which in a way is just as panicky a response.

London Times: Food Rationing Introduced in United States

British shopkeepers and the US retailer Wal-Mart have rationed rice sales to
protect dwindling supplies. The move by the world’s biggest retailer, which
owns Asda, constitutes the first time that food rationing has been
introduced in the US. While Americans suffered some rationing during the
Second World War for items such as petrol, light bulbs and stockings, they
have never had to limit consumption of a key food item.

The Globe and Mail: Global Food Crisis Comes to North America

The global rice crisis is also starting to have an impact on North America.
Sam's Club stores has began restricting the amount of rice customers can
buy at outlets across the United States. "We are limiting the sale of
jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice to four bags per member visit."

Washington Times: Americans Hoarding Food as Prices Soar

The regulatory clash came amid evidence that a rash of headlines in recent
weeks about food riots around the world has prompted some in the United
States to stock up on staples. Costco and other grocery stores in California
reported a run on rice, which has forced them to set limits on how many
sacks of rice each customer can buy.

London Times: Rice Being Rationed Throughout Britain

Rice is being rationed in Britain as shopkeepers limit supplies to their
customers to prevent hoarding. Restrictions on sales are reported as
emergency measures are taken by governments worldwide to combat the
soaring cost of rice and prevent outbreaks of food rioting.

The Oregonian: Rice Shortages and Rationing Come to Portland, Oregon

The dynamics of the world food economy are playing out in full force in
Oregon as real and perceived shortages are driving prices to record highs.
Some local stores have started to ration rice sales, and relief agencies fear
a crisis in trying to feed the world's hungry. Rich Lenardson, manager of
Sun Food Service Brokerage in Portland said "I've sold rice since 1988 and
I've never seen the kind of price increases we've seen in the past month.."

Business Week: Rice Supply Panic in San Francisco, California

At the Costco in San Francisco, rice is all the rage. Not long after the 10
a.m. opening on Apr. 24, the warehouse club was well on its way to selling
out the day's supply of Thai jasmine rice. Within an hour, customers
cleared three pallets loaded with 50-lb. bags of Super Lucky Elephant brand
jasmine rice from Thailand. Real estate broker Mary Jane Galviso snapped
up two bags — the limit imposed by this particular store. "This is very
frightening," says Galviso, who hails from Orosi, a rural community in
California's Central Valley, more than 200 miles southeast of San Francisco.

Daily Reckoning: The Era of Cheap Food, Energy and Credit is at an End

As for the era of cheap food, its return looks unlikely. Food rationing in the
west. Mighty US retailer Walmart is limiting the purchase of rice, reports
Bloomberg, and another US retail giant, Costco, is considering a similar
move. Elsewhere, Irish Banana importer Fyffes reports higher import costs
are accelerating fruit price inflation.

Counterpunch: Food Crisis Generating a Cascade of Devastating Effects

In recent days, we have seen the rising price of oil and the devaluation of
the dollar create two quantum shifts in the economy: the beginning of the
collapse of the air travel industry and a global crisis of food-price inflation.
As air carriers have gone bankrupt, the knock-on effects on travel agents,
airports, airport-colocated hotels, "package" vacation resorts, etc. are
considerable.  This is how one cascade pours into another, as the manifold
contradictions of our global system merge and co-amplify. Tourism, which
was supposed to be a relatively benign industry for colonized nations - an
alternative to brutal extraction and cash cropping - turns out to have been
just as extractive all along due to the climate (and cultural) damage . . .

Money News: Wheat Crop Failure Cold be Total

On top of record-breaking rice prices and corn through the roof on ethanol
demand, wheat is now rusting in the fields across Africa. Officials fear near
total crop losses, and the fungus, known as Ug99, is spreading. Wheat
prices have been soaring this week on top of already high prices, and
futures contracts spiked, too, on panic buying. Experts fear the cost of
bread could soon follow the path of rice, the price of which has triggered
riots in some countries and prompted countries to cut off exports.

Alternet: Hedge Fund Managers Turn Starvation into Billion Dollar Paydays

Just what do hedge fund managers do to “earn” these awesome sums?
They make most of their killings betting on others’ misfortune. John
Paulson, the $3.7 billion-dollar man, racked up his big gains wagering that
reality would collapse the subprime mortgage market. Other hedge
honchos placed winning bets on rising prices for oil, wheat, and copper.

Carolyn Baker: Peak Civilization and the Winter of Our Discontent

The winter has been long, cold, and dreary-particularly in the Rust Belt
where the devastations of housing foreclosures, unemployment, and the
resultant blight have left a trail of human misery and degradation not seen
since the Great Depression. Ten percent of the population of Ohio now
relies on food stamps while hordes of domestic animals abandoned in
foreclosed homes endure long and grotesque deaths from starvation.
 
___________________________________________________________________


Quality storable food, free shipping over $100, at LATOC Affiliate Nitro-Pak

___________________________________________________________________


Finance, the Economy:

CNN Money: General Electric CEO Says Economy is Worst Since Depression

General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt said the U.S. economy is in the worst
condition since the burst of the dot-com bubble and that housing hasn't
been in such dire straits since the Great Depression. Less than two weeks
after the conglomerate shocked investors with a profit warning and
revealed that its first-quarter earnings had unexpectedly fallen 6%, Jeff
Immelt said things could get worse for the U.S. economy.

Wall Street Journal: Economy, Credit Woes Foil Cities' Big Projects

A proposed $7 billion downtown Seattle project has become the latest
major urban development to be scotched or delayed because of the credit
crisis and a faltering economy. The Seattle project joins other projects in
New York, Phoenix, Atlanta and Las Vegas that have been shelved, scaled
back or beset by financial problems in recent months. Many city officials
hoped they would provide jobs and economic activity that could help make
up for a housing-market downturn that still hasn't reached bottom.

NY Times: Foreclosure Crisis Spreads to the Affluent

This wooded town of roughly 60,000 on Long Island Sound — home to
dozens of hedge funds, many millionaires and more than a few billionaires
— is one of the wealthiest enclaves in the country. But even Greenwich is
not immune to the wave of home foreclosures sweeping the nation. The
town, which typically has about half a dozen foreclosure notices each
month, recorded 34 filings in January, according to RealtyTrac.

NY Times: Builders Face Biggest Backlog of Unsold Homes in 25 Years

Builders are now faced with the biggest backlog of unsold homes in more
than a quarter century, a sign that home values may continue to drop.
Even those who wish to buy may be stymied, Mr. Baumohl said, as banks
and mortgage lenders tighten their credit standards . . .

Charles Hugh Smith: United States in Third World Style Debt Meltdown

It is sobering to contemplate the possibility of a debt-ridden, anxious nation
within a nation, a nation of residents who may, at some deep level, have
lost confidence in themselves, their leaders, and perhaps their nation itself.

USA Today: Unpaid Utility Bills Soar As Economy Sours

Hundreds of thousands of utility customers are at risk of disconnections as
the sagging economy drives up the number of past-due home heating bills
and the amounts owed, utility companies in cold-weather states say. The
extent of the problem is becoming apparent now because most states in
the Midwest and Northeast have moratoriums on disconnecting utilities in
winter months. Those restrictions typically end March 31 or April 15.

Associated Press: Many States Appear to be in Recession

The finances of many states have deteriorated so badly that they appear
to be in a recession, regardless of whether that's true for the nation as a
whole, a survey of all 50 state fiscal directors concludes.  "Whether or not
the national economy is in recession — a subject of ongoing debate — is
almost beside the point for some states," said the report . . .

Bloomberg: U.S. States "Deteriorating" as Slump Curbs Taxes

U.S. states expect to have at least $26 billion less than they need to pay
their bills during the next budget year as a slumping economy erodes tax
receipts, according to a national survey. The study shows that pressure is
mounting in nearly half of the states as businesses fire workers, fuel prices
soar and consumers grow more worried about the economy. States rely on
income and sales taxes to pay for schools, health care and criminal justice.

Mike Whitney: The Situation is More Precarious Than Ever

The sudden surge in stocks is not a sign that things are back to normal; far
from it. If anything, things are worse than ever. Credit remains unusually
tight despite Bernanke's cuts to the Fed Funds rate or the creation of
various "auction facilities" that remove mortgage-backed securities from
banks balance sheets. Businesses and consumers are still having a hard
time getting funding, which means that the velocity of money in the
financial system is decelerating rapidly and this increases the likelihood of
a system-wide freeze-up. Libor is just the flashing red light.

Fool.com: It's So Much Worse Than You Think

For months, we've been experiencing a liquidity crisis that has locked up
credit markets. It's now apparent that the debt market was a disaster
waiting to happen and that the collapsing housing market was all that was
needed to end the wait. The problem is, if you look at the catalyst for this
crash, you'll see that the correction may have just begun.

Business Week: Rise of the Vulture Investors

Lately they are all feasting on the riskiest and most troubled assets, those
that continue to make most investors nervous. Vultures typically emerge
when mayhem in the financial markets depresses prices. The difference
today is that Falcone and others have much more cash — and therefore
clout — than vultures of the past. They also use a far wider array of
investment tactics than the traditional vulture, whose primary modus
operandi was to buy beaten-down corporate bonds in bankruptcy . . .

NY Times: Indebted Americans Hounted by Debt-Collectors from India

Americans are used to receiving calls from India for insurance claims and
credit card sales. But debt collection represents a growing business for
outsourcing companies, especially as the American economy slows and its
consumers struggle to pay for their purchases. Armed with a sophisticated
automated system that dials tens of thousands of Americans every hour,
and puts confidential information like Social Security numbers, addresses
and credit history at operators’ fingertips, this new breed of collectors is
chasing down late car payments, overdue credit card debt and lapsed
installment loans. Debt collectors in India often cost about one-quarter the
price of their American counterparts, and are often better at the job . . .

NY Times: Where the Fingers are Pointing

When money managers make good investments, they are happy to take
credit for brilliance. When they make bad investments, they would rather
the blame go elsewhere. The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing this
week to beat up on the credit rating agencies and to push the Securities
and Exchange Commission to impose tough regulations on them . . .

___________________________________________________________________


Oil and Energy:

Deep and Dark Forces Have Rendered the American Dream Unattainable

I really didn't want to listen to Kunstler. I want my American dream. I want
my white-picket fence, a big backyard where the kids can play and the dog
can run free while I watch from the house with my loving husband. I want
my big, fat paycheck to buy expensive, fancy furniture. I want to entertain
guests with my fancy china. I want to take jet planes all around the world
where I can lay in pristine sands of paradise beaches. And, I want my big,
fancy cars so I can drive into town when I need some groceries or want to
spend a day at the spa . . . And the reason these dreams won't come true
isn't just because this fantasy American dream is hardly attainable, but it's
because of deeper and darker forces . . .

Tom Whipple: The Peak Oil Crisis is Coming Faster Than Many Realize

If our stockpiles do not start to build more rapidly in the next month or
two, then watch out, for in recent years the U.S. has slowly moved
towards a just-in-time system for oil and products to lower inventory
costs. Keep in mind that much of our "stockpile" is trapped in pipelines,
sitting in partially-processed tanks at refineries, and aboard ships and
barges where it is no use to the consumer. It was only a couple of years
ago that we were hours away from shortages.

London Times: Twenty Percent of Britons Plunged Into Energy Poverty

Another million households could be plunged into fuel poverty this year if
Britain’s energy suppliers go ahead with further price rises. Fuel poverty,
defined as needing to spend 10 per cent or more of total household income
on energy, now affects 4.5 million households – roughly one in five.

UK Independent: Minister says "No guarantee on fuel supplies"

Fears that a strike by workers at one of the country's biggest oil refineries
could hit petrol supplies increased today when a Government minister said
he could not guarantee that motorists would be able to fill up at garages.
Up to 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth site in Scotland will walk out on
Sunday for two days in a row over pensions, forcing the closure of the site.
The strike could hit the Forties pipeline, which delivers almost one third of
the UK's daily oil output, it was disclosed last night.

This is London: Petrol Stations Run Dry as Minister Sparks Panic

Petrol stations have started to run dry as thousands of motorists ignored
appeals not to panic-buy ahead of a strike this weekend at one of Britain's
biggest oil refineries. A number of filling stations in the Edinburgh area
reported severe shortages as queues of cars formed and customers
reportedly stockpiled fuel by filling up jerry cans before paying. There were
also reports of petrol stations running out of diesel.

Britain's Year 2000 Fuel Protests Offer Chilling Preview of Our Future

Editor's Note: relinked in light of the impending strike at Britain's big oil refinery:

On September 9th, a nation-wide panic buying of fuel began. A few days
later, over half of Britain’s gas stations were shut down. When the first
deliveries of gas began again on September 15th, 90% of gas stations were
without fuel. Still, even though all protest had stopped, motorists were
warned that they could still face a wait of up to two weeks for gas and
delivering that gas posed a "massive logistical problem." (4) The impact on
critical infrastructure was devastating. Food didn’t get delivered to
supermarket shelves. Ambulance services stopped as did blood supplies to
hospitals. One hospital ran out of stitches and many more complained
about being unable to move hazardous materials from their facilities,
creating health risk. Medicines were not delivered to pharmacies. ATM
machines weren’t loaded with money.

London Times: Britain Faces Domestic Unrest as Unions Threaten Strikes

Britain faces a wave of industrial unrest this summer as unions ballot
millions of members on strike action. Workers in local government, the
health service, the Civil Service, the Royal Mail and even the Sellafield
nuclear site could join teachers in an escalating confrontation with the
Government over pay.

UK Guardian: Britisih Military Ready to Suppress "Middle Class Flashmobs"

Editor's Note: relinked in light of the above linked London Times story on domestic unrest in Britain.

Information chips implanted in the brain. Electromagnetic pulse weapons.