A Looming Shadow

With all of the current crises that we are forced to face by government ineptitude and chicanery you'd think that the bread basket of the world wouldn't be facing food shortages, but the fact is that America, like the rest of the world is looking at shortages of essential foodstuffs. We are also facing rising prices due to numerous governmental interferences in the market place. There's even been a modest attempt at food rationing in some locales. Is this a trend we are going to see more of in the future? The answer is quite likely a resounding yes.

Food shortages and price increases are a burgeoning worldwide phenomenon and no-one is going to go unscathed as things spiral further down. While the 3rd world is being hit the hardest by the current shortages, even places as economically secure as Japan are experiencing their own shortages of foodstuffs. At the root of all this is government interference in the marketplace and the global warming nutcases.

The rise in prices can pretty easily be traced to the government subsidised and, in some cases mandated, adoption of biofuel initiatives in an effort to exacerbate global cooling promote the global warming hysteria embraced by so many politicians and cultists the deliberately ignorant.
This interference has also helped us reach the point where the US wheat stocks are at a 60 year low and international prices have surged over 130% in the past year. It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to see that tougher times are on the way. Especially if we keep using our food supply to fuel cars at the behest the nihilistic Malthusians fueling the global warming movement.

What this means for Joe Public is a continuation of price increases. Add into this the plunging value of the dollar, rising fuel costs and increased inflation and we are looking at some tough times in the future. Most families have already seen their food bills rise to new levels and things are unlikely to trend downward any time soon. What is a body to do?

Political commentator Glenn Beck, speaking to this very subject, has some useful advice.

All I'm asking you to do is go out and buy some flour. Don't panic. Don't hoard it. Don't do any of that. Just go out and protect your family. Go out and store some flour. Store some rice. Put it in your basement. Use it through the summer or whatever. Just hang onto it and then if things get bad, you use it. So you batten down the hatches of your own finances. So you don't have to worry so much about food prices because futures are telling us that the price is going to continue to increase. The global food price has gone up 83% in the last three years alone. Futures are telling us it's going up. You will pay that price in gas soon. You will pay that price in food soon. The truckers will have to charge more for the delivery soon. So you're going to feel this much more than you are now. Spend your money wisely and store up on some food. So then when everybody else is panicking, you will be calm enough with your family and your neighbors and say, relax. Relax, we'll never run out of food and you won't be panicked because the worst thing that happens is when people panic, and there's got to be a core of people that don't panic if and when these things hit.

I find it hard to argue with advice like that. It makes uncommon sense. Adding an extra bag of this and a can of that to the larder each time you go could make the difference between paying the bills or feeding the family come hard times.

If you were so inclined, and it would make a lick of difference, you could also lobby the talking heads in Congress, your state pols, and those hacks running for President and ask them to withdraw all support for subsidies, ethanol, the global warming cult and all the other things they've done to create the current and future food crises facing us and the rest of the world. That would mean they'd have to support the concept of less government, tho. And we all know how they feel about that.


Technorati Tags:
Food Shortages, Global Warming, Libertarian, Politics, Inflation

Gun Free Zone Erupts

Imagine my complete lack of surprise to see that Chicago had a banner weekend for murder, shootings and stabbings. I can't help but wonder how many rapes, robberies or burglaries also occurred during that same time period. How can this possibly occur in the paradise that is Chicago? Didn't they ban firearms? I know that I am not allowed to visit their city and bring a firearm with me for my safety and that of my family, with whom I would be traveling. I've checked on it. It looks like chaos reigns supreme in Mr. Daly's paradise by the lake.

In an especially violent weekend, no less than 31 people have been shot in Chicago -- six fatally -- and two people have been stabbed since noon Friday. The shooting victims range in age from 12 to 65.

By comparison I, (carrying my sidearm) went out this weekend and shot absolutely no-one. Had a nice impromptu dinner at Five Guys with my visiting dad, brother and the kids, ignored the other patrons and I didn't shoot one single person. My firearm didn't get out and do any damage on its own, either.

Chicago seems to have a problem. Too many gun laws would be my guess. A lot of innocent people managed to get hurt and killed there because they, unlike myself, were unable to defend themselves. The government disarmed them and made victims of them.

About 6 a.m., a man broke into an apartment in the 1900 block of West Winona Street and stabbed a man, 26, and woman, 30. Both people were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition.

If this had happened in my neighbourhood the results would likely have been very different. Never bring a knife to a gun fight isn't just a trite saying. It's a way of life.

Lazy, Ignorant Americans

The anti-immigration crowd are quite fond of saying that there are no jobs that Americans won't do. Unfortunately, the facts seem to state otherwise. There are also jobs that Americans cannot do, as the CEO of AT&T has been finding out the hard way. He promised to insource 5,000 jobs to the US from call centre's outside the US. So far he's been able to find only 1,400 people to fill those jobs. These are simple customer service positions, too. No degrees necessary, no technical expertise needed. Frankly, I don't know why the poor man hasn't quit trying. No doubt there are plenty of under qualified people lining up expecting to get paid an exorbitant amount of money for sitting around, answering the phone and leafing through a manual to answer questions. A quick check at Monster.com tells you how little you actually need to know to acquire one of these jobs. Any high schooler should be able to get one of these positions.

The head of the top U.S. phone company said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from "We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs," Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio, where the company's headquarters is located.

So far, only around 1,400 jobs have been returned to the United States of 5,000, a target it set in 2006, the company said, adding that it maintains the target.

Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the is as high as 50 percent.

"If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down," he said.

Gee, it sounds as if he has run up against the very thing that libertarians have been saying for ages. The US government schools are a dismal failure and have managed to turn out a defective product, when they've managed to turn one out at all. Is it any wonder that businesses, large and small have turned to immigrant labour to get the jobs done that need doing? Is it any wonder that businesses have had to outsource to foreign countries to find qualified help at a decent wage? There's plenty of blame to go around here, but a large percentage of it can be lain at the doorstep of the failed government schools systems. These bastions of socialism have managed to inculcate a sense of entitlement without cause into generations of people. Now we can see concrete results.

Technorati Tags:
AT&T, Jobs, Libertarian, Education, Immigration

Hard Truth

I recently blogged about the looming financial and economic crisis headed our way, due to the burgeoning debt created by the government, its policies and spending. Now, I'm doing it again. Well, sort of. What I'd like you to do is to take 9 minutes and 5 seconds out of your day to watch a video from the Comptroller of the United States, David Walker. Mr. Walker lays out the problem directly and succinctly so you'll understand it. This is quite possibly the single most important video you might watch this year, (if it succeeds in waking you up).

The Democrats and Republicans are in the process of ruining this country with their profligate spending and their current march towards a new fascist state. The front runners in the upcoming presidential contest are set to make matters worse than they currently are, (and that's pretty damned bad). Both of the Democrats are looking to raise taxes and increase spending to new and unheard of levels, creating a fascist state the likes of which hasn't been seen since the 1930's. In the process they will literally bankrupt the country and enslave our children and grandchildren to the debt that has been and will be created. The Republican will certainly do no better.

Unless people are made aware of Mr. Walkers words, (here and elsewhere), things shall continue as they are currently are and we will face an economic crisis of monumental proportions. The "Great Depression" will look like a minor blip by comparison. None of us will be able to prepare for what's likely to come, no matter how far back in the mountains you choose to run. There will be no escape from this looming economic catastrophe.

So, please take a minute. Watch. Listen. Learn. Act. Link to this video and spread the word, while there's still time.





via kdt

Technorati Tags:
Libertarian, National Debt, Election 2008, David Walker, The Coming Depression, Politics, Fascists