An estimated seven million people starved to death during the Great Depression. And amazingly, these people had food preparation skills that are basically a lost art in America today (e.g. canning).
With a staggering debt looming over the country, how vulnerable are Americans to starvation if and when an economic collapse takes down our economy?
It is not a secret that the world is in a desperate situation when it comes to overall world hunger. The World Bank cites the disturbing fact that there have been 51 food riots in 37 countries in recent memory due to high food prices and the further escalation of food prices has no end in sight. The World Bank further speculates that the present state of food prices could lead to political instability and this is the kind of stuff that wars are made of. And what is the number one cause of rising food prices according to the World Bank? It is the increasing demand (see attached PDF) for food from a growing population inside of China. The future military implications should be self-evident. But what about the United States? How vulnerable are Americans to the possibility of mass starvation?
A Snapshot of America’s Food Vulnerability
Almost beyond belief, a full 79 percent of the people that use food banks purchase typically buy cheap, unhealthy food and still just have enough to feed their children. The price of food continues to quickly out-pace the paychecks of most middle class families. For example, the average price of ground beef has just hit a brand new all-time record high of $3.88 per pound! There are nearly 50 million Americans that are dealing with food insecurity in various degrees of distress. Just over one out of seven Americans rely on obtaining food from various banks at one point or another and these food banks are beginning to experience record shortages.
In a case of “defend the nation and starve”, military families are feeling even more stress from not being able to obtain sufficient quantities of food as 25% of America military families require outside assistance in getting enough to eat. What does this say about an administration which uses our soldiers to defend the nation and then kicks them to the curb by denying their VA health benefits as the government also starves their families because they cannot survive on what we pay our soldiers? This is disgraceful, but it is the Obama fundamental transformation of American way!
America Has No Way to Keep Up with Food Inflation
In calculating the overall inflation rate, the government does not count the price of food. However, there are several reliable food inflation figures and the food inflation rate is estimated to be between 19% to 22%.
In the article, “Food Price Inflation Scares the Fed” the commodity food costs were exploding on the upside. Calculation of the food inflation rate, given the lag in commodity costs impacting prices on grocery store shelves, we find that the annual U.S. food inflation rate is now running at a staggering +22% and the rate is increasing with no end in sight to the escalation.
The real and specific cause for food inflation is the low-end $940 billion of additional monetary stimulus from the United States Federal Reserve’s quantitative (bail out) easing over the last 18 months. No economy can sustain the value of its money, when currency floods the market like it has during the present administration. The net effect is that the value of your money has been seriously eroded thanks to such misguided practices as the bail-outs.
According to the New York Times, the typical American family is now worth 36% less than it was worth only 10 years ago!
Shockingly, one out of every six men, ranging in ages from 25 to 54, are not employed. Median family income in the United States is 7% lower than it was in 2000. The United States is now in 19th place in the world and falling. There is no way that the majority of American families can keep pace with food inflation as the wages of Americans are now inversely correlated with the rising food prices. This is a prescription for disaster. The most vulnerable to starvation within the present economic climate are the children as an amazing twenty six percent of all children are living below the poverty level. And we certainly cannot ignore the fact that 50 million Americans are on some form of Federal Food Stamps. With these kind of distressing statistics, a significant number of Americans are vulnerable to politically motivated “food blackmail” in these times of economic distress.
Just how many Americans are vulnerable to “blackmail by starvation”? Nobody can be totally accurate in the estimation, however, the numbers listed in the above paragraphs provide a good starting point from which to estimate the risk.
Disruption to Transportation Would Prove Catastrophic
The critical element which could most impact the number of Americans who would vulnerable to starvation has to do with disruptions in our transportation system. For the purpose of efficiency and to maximize profits “Just in time (JIT)” food deliveries take place at grocery outlets several times per day. Without these JIT deliveries, we would see immediate shortages occurring on day one of any disruption to the delivery of our food to its final destination.
Although, about 10% of all Americans live near substantial food supplies, my previous investigations have revealed the fact that transportation disruption would be life-threatening to most Americans and the effects would be realized within two days. Most Americans are, at most, nine meals away starvation, which is the amount of food that the average person has stored according to FEMA.
Threats to Transportation
There are many threats to transportation, but some of the more dramatic threats are as follows:
1. An EMP attack upon America would immediately and almost completely stop any food delivery. The effects of the resulting food shortages would be felt almost immediately and would be the second leading cause of death in this scenario which would kill an estimated 90% of all Americans within two years (Naval War College estimate).
2. A nuclear attack upon the United States. Such an attack would also contain an EMP component to it which is a significant byproduct of a nuclear attack.
3. The spread of a pandemic, such as Ebola, would created a shortage of food deliveries caused by the fear that people would have about going out in public. One word to the wise, only report to a public facility as a last resort to obtain food.
Undoubtedly, there would be some public centers set up to distribute food. What would happen should the facility (e.g. sports stadium, shopping mall or FEMA camp runs out of food? How would they replenish their supplies? Do you think that once the food ran out, that the prevailing authority would open the gates and allow the hungry masses to run through the streets desperately looking for their next meal? Or, is it more likely that these centers could become what we came to know as soylent green centers in the 1973 classic move by the same name? Is it really so unimaginable?The Government Threat
And of course, Henry Kissinger was only kidding when he stated the following:
Although it would not take much to push America over the edge with regard to mass starvation, there is a precedent that the United States government would use food as a weapon against its own people if necessary.
In December, 1974, National Security Council directed by Henry Kissinger completed a classified study entitled, “National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests.” The study was based upon the unproven claims that population growth in Lesser Developed Countries (LDC) constituted a serious risk to America’s national security.
In November 1975 President Ford, based upon the tenets of NSSM 200 outlined a classified plan to forcibly reduce population growth in LDC countries through birth control, war and famine. Ford’s new national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, in conjunction with then CIA Director, George H. W. Bush, were tasked with implementing the plan and the secretaries of state, treasury, defense, and agriculture assisted in the implementation of these insane genocidal plans.
NSSM 200 formally raised the question, “Would food be considered an instrument of national power? Is the U.S. prepared to accept food rationing to help people who can’t/won’t control their population growth?” Would this be done inside of America? Kissinger has answered these questions when he stated that he was predicting a series of contrived famines, created by mandatory programs and this would make exclusive reliance on birth control programs unnecessary in this modern day application of eugenics in a scheme that would allow Henry to have his cake and eat it too in that the world would finally be rid of what Henry Kissinger referred to as the “useless eaters!”
Third world population control, using food as one of the primary weapons, has long been a matter of official covert national policy and a portion of President Obama’s Executive Order 13603 (EO), National Defense Resources Preparedness is a continuation of that policy. Only now, the intended targets are not the LDC’s, but are instead, the American people and after Obama declares martial law, food will undoubtedly be used to subjugate the more resistant regions of our country.
Conclusion
America is already on the edge with regard to a starvation crisis due to economic conditions alone. An economic collapse, or no shortage of any other kind of disaster, would plunge this country into the depths of unimaginable horrors associated with extreme food shortages.
Some people are shocked and refuse to consider what many feel is the unthinkable. When an economic collapse comes to America, coupled with the nation’s extreme food vulnerability, just how desperate will people become?What have you done to prepare?
Credit to Common Sense
