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Drudge: America faces food rationing?
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 342843
4/21/2008 1:08 PM
Report abusive post | Drudge: America faces food rationing?
| Quote |
Drudge is linking to this story:
[link to nysun.com]
Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World
April 21, 2008
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing.
Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.
At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy.
“Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.”
The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants, but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99.
“You can’t eat this every day. It’s too heavy,” a health care executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded two sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. “We only need one bag but I’m getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it,” the elder man said.
The Patels seemed headed for disappointment, as most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap.
“Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history,” a sign above the dwindling supply said.
Shoppers said the limits had been in place for a few days, and that rice supplies had been spotty for a few weeks. A store manager referred questions to officials at Costco headquarters near Seattle, who did not return calls or e-mail messages yesterday.
An employee at the Costco store in Queens said there were no restrictions on rice buying, but limits were being imposed on purchases of oil and flour. Internet postings attributed some of the shortage at the retail level to bakery owners who flocked to warehouse stores when the price of flour from commercial suppliers doubled.
The curbs and shortages are being tracked with concern by survivalists who view the phenomenon as a harbinger of more serious trouble to come.
“It’s sporadic. It’s not every store, but it’s becoming more commonplace,” the editor of SurvivalBlog.com, James Rawles, said. “The number of reports I’ve been getting from readers who have seen signs posted with limits has increased almost exponentially, I’d say in the last three to five weeks.”
Spiking food prices have led to riots in recent weeks in Haiti, Indonesia, and several African nations. India recently banned export of all but the highest quality rice, and Vietnam blocked the signing of new contract for foreign rice sales.
“I’m surprised the Bush administration hasn’t slapped export controls on wheat,” Mr. Rawles said. “The Asian countries are here buying every kind of wheat.”
Mr. Rawles said it is hard to know how much of the shortages are due to lagging supply and how much is caused by consumers hedging against future price hikes or a total lack of product.
“There have been so many stories about worldwide shortages that it encourages people to stock up. What most people don’t realize is that supply chains have changed, so inventories are very short,” Mr. Rawles, a former Army intelligence officer, said. “Even if people increased their purchasing by 20%, all the store shelves would be wiped out.”
At the moment, large chain retailers seem more prone to shortages and limits than do smaller chains and mom-and-pop stores, perhaps because store managers at the larger companies have less discretion to increase prices locally.
Mr. Rawles said the spot shortages seemed to be most frequent in the Northeast and all the way along the West Coast. He said he had heard reports of buying limits at Sam’s Club warehouses, which are owned by Wal-Mart Stores, but a spokesman for the company, Kory Lundberg, said he was not aware of any shortages or limits.
An anonymous high-tech professional writing on an investment Web site, Seeking Alpha, said he recently bought 10 50-pound bags of rice at Costco. “I am concerned that when the news of rice shortage spreads, there will be panic buying and the shelves will be empty in no time. I do not intend to cause a panic, and I am not speculating on rice to make profit. I am just hoarding some for my own consumption,” he wrote.
For now, rice is available at Asian markets in California, though consumers have fewer choices when buying the largest bags. “At our neighborhood store, it’s very expensive, more than $30” for a 25-pound bag, a housewife from Mountain View, Theresa Esquerra, said. “I’m not going to pay $30. Maybe we’ll just eat bread.” |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 265178
4/21/2008 1:10 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
Well they could always go back to Asia , there's probably lots more rice there . |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 396816
4/21/2008 1:12 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
This is a massive story |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 342843 (OP)
4/21/2008 1:27 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
This is a massive story Quoting: Anonymous Coward 396816
Yep. Remember it next fall when we're all in bread lines. |
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Hungry
User ID: 420487
4/21/2008 1:40 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
This has me scared - and I bet the bread lines are going to be here a lot sooner than the fall of this year. MSM sits on these stories for weeks before cluing us in. Money is so tight that it is hard to find the extra money to eat week to week - let alone to stock up.
I wonder when this will affect Ohio? We are too close to NYC and New England.
AAAGGGHHH!!!!! |
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Hungry....Still
User ID: 420487
4/21/2008 1:40 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
This needs to be pinned |
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Rice Hoarder
User ID: 387677
4/21/2008 1:52 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
for an important read |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 396816
4/21/2008 1:53 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
This needs to be pinned Quoting: Hungry....Still 420487
Agreed this is the biggest story on GLP and is very,very serious
Looks like the doom predictions were right all along
btw
Nothing on the news about this instead we get the bafta awards and hollywood B.S |
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bulldozer
User ID: 313874
4/21/2008 1:58 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
I bet you wish you would of listened years ago...
We told you, but we were kooks.
I feel very bad for people in or around any cities. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 396816
4/21/2008 2:00 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
Yep. Remember it next fall when we're all in bread lines. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 342843
I wonder how orderly the bread lines will be ?
I should imagine there will be people being trampled on and yobs stamping on each other fighting over a crust of bread,this is what we have to face |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 412225
4/21/2008 2:06 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
Guys I,ve been watching this disaster for weeks now coming down down the tracks I warned the people I work with about this Im just your average joe who keeps track of all the DOOM with you guys of course yes some of my friends think Im crazy because Im abscessed with DOOM but I have a bad feeling about whats coming so I've been preparing. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 317540
4/21/2008 2:07 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
Use the stimulus check to stockpile food!
Of course most will spend it on toys and starve later.... |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 396816
4/21/2008 2:15 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
I guess if they put a story like this on the mainstream news,it would cause chaos and panic buying
I have got enough food to last about a year,i was in the supermarket today and had a look around and saw young mothers with their children and i felt bad for them,most people havent got a clue whats coming,there are rumours of food shortages but most people dont understand how serious it is |
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ttowngrl
User ID: 420510
4/21/2008 2:23 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
are you serious , do you really believe there is a shortage of food coming lol |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 412225
4/21/2008 2:25 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
Yes most people dont keep track of stuff like this they think is AMERICA the land of plenty but times are changing and they dont look good in the near term. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 355852
4/21/2008 2:25 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
I guess if they put a story like this on the mainstream news,it would cause chaos and panic buying
I have got enough food to last about a year,i was in the supermarket today and had a look around and saw young mothers with their children and i felt bad for them,most people havent got a clue whats coming,there are rumours of food shortages but most people dont understand how serious it is Quoting: Anonymous Coward 396816
The real problem is that everyone thinks it can't happen in America. We have never been out of food (to my knowledge) since WWII. We have never been a nation that is worried about food or fuel supplies. More like, better paying jobs, real estate, cars, etc... The basics have always been available and relatively cheap or within the means of most until the 80s. Prices have been slowly going up but no one was alarmed.
The massive problem that definitely hasn't sunk in with regular J6P is that even if the store of food is good now and the only people going hungry is third world countries, it would only take more unpredictable weather, plant virus, etc. to tip the balances.
My family is starting to stock up now (as finances allow), not for this year, but for next year and the year after that. I will bet that crops yields are going to be hit in the next couple of years. Even if we don't go to rationing, the price of stables is going to go through the roof.
And dang it - this thread needs to be pinned! |
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Rice Hoarder
User ID: 387677
4/21/2008 2:26 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
Guys I,ve been watching this disaster for weeks now coming down down the tracks I warned the people I work with about this Im just your average joe who keeps track of all the DOOM with you guys of course yes some of my friends think Im crazy because Im abscessed with DOOM but I have a bad feeling about whats coming so I've been preparing. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 412225
Ugh, abscessed with DOOM, that's a nice visual.
(I think you meant obsessed, abscessed means a pus-filled wound). |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 96850
4/21/2008 2:28 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
Drudge is linking to this story:
[ link to nysun.com]
Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World
April 21, 2008
Paging Thomas Malthus, Thomas Malthus to the emergency room |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 412225
4/21/2008 2:30 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
I found out about this because of keeping track of the food stocks,metal stocks and everything that comes out of the ground all is going throught the roof,Gold,silver,coopper,you get it. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 412225
4/21/2008 2:31 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
Thanks rice hoarder sorry. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 412225
4/21/2008 2:34 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
PIN THIS RICE BURNER. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 363159
4/21/2008 2:43 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
are you serious , do you really believe there is a shortage of food coming lol Quoting: ttowngrl
You should read the ops article before you open your mouth. |
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LOOK TO THE ANT
User ID: 379467
4/21/2008 2:51 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
are you serious , do you really believe there is a shortage of food coming lol Quoting: ttowngrl
You must have some grasshopper DNA/blood in you... |
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BULLDOZER
User ID: 313874
4/21/2008 2:52 PM
 | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
DAMN, i'm going to miss ice cream...
BIG plans, NO money |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 396816
4/21/2008 3:28 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
The massive problem that definitely hasn't sunk in with regular J6P is that even if the store of food is good now and the only people going hungry is third world countries, it would only take more unpredictable weather, plant virus, etc. to tip the balances.
My family is starting to stock up now (as finances allow), not for this year, but for next year and the year after that. I will bet that crops yields are going to be hit in the next couple of years. Even if we don't go to rationing, the price of stables is going to go through the roof.
And dang it - this thread needs to be pinned! Quoting: Anonymous Coward 355852
Food rationing is already happening in the USA IMO
this is not a theory no more |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 389959
4/21/2008 3:31 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
Pin Please! |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 328162
4/21/2008 3:33 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
soon they will limit us on how much we buy |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 389959
4/21/2008 3:34 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
oops, thanks mods |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 11400
4/21/2008 3:34 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
growyourown growyourown growyourown! If you live in the city at least put some 5gal. buckets on your balcony/patio with tomatoes or something in it! Jeeze...sprouts, SOMETHING! There may/will come a time when half a tomoat in hot water is what you'll have to eat that day. Seriously. Think about it. |
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Amaruca
User ID: 420547
4/21/2008 3:36 PM
 | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
famine cometh.. *real doom*
"God" said, let us make man in our image.. IMPLYING genetic hybridization
"I awoke only to find, that the rest of the world was still asleep" |
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Solve_et_Coagula
User ID: 374190
4/21/2008 3:36 PM | | Re: Drudge: America faces food rationing? | Quote |
The law of cause and effect in action.
Treat your neighbours as you want to be treated... its high time to learn that issue...
Best wishes from Switzerland |
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