Barry Ritholtz discussing the Fed causing the global food crisis, link to an article entitled "Why the Economy is Worse than we know. "
Is the Fed Causing a Global Food Crisis?
Excerpt: "The Federal Reserve’s irresponsible bailout of Wall Street’s most reckless players is having very significant repercussions, both in the US and abroad.
It starts with the US dollar, now off 40% from its highs earlier this decade. This has had a huge impact on commodity prices, and is the prime reason so many countries are considering dropping their peg to the US Dollar.
Overseas, price spikes in basic foodstuffs has led to riots and political unrest. Considering that in many regions of the world most of a family’s income goes to basic survival purchases such as food shelter and energy, it doesn’t take much in the way of price rises to lead to significant turmoil. According to Bloomberg, the average household in India spent 32% of its income on food last year. Compare that with 6% in the U.S., and 43% in Indonesia, or 36% for the Philippines.
Digging deeper into this situation is the cover story of the May 2008 edition of Harpers is titled "Why the Economy is Worse than We know" (pdf). It contains a review of the myriad ways the government has corrupted the way official statistics are reported for jobs, inflation, GDP, etc. (I have a brief mention in it)."
Click here to read the rest on Barry’s site.
