[ExI] On the brink of food riots

[Keith Henson]

The US government policy of converting food (corn) to vehicle fuel has
"interesting" consequences, though they probably only brought the
crisis forward a few years.

I have talked here for almost the last decade about wars and related
social disruptions as the consequence of a bleak future.  Some of
those take years for the xenophobic memes to build up.

Food shortages (i.e., high prices) have much faster effects.  The
thing that is particularly disturbing about this report is how close
we seem to be to really widespread food riots.

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1108.2455v1.pdf

Given the number of people on food stamps in the US, the US may not be
immune to global food price rises causing trouble here.

Keith