A secular news source, The European Union Times, is calling the present US drought apocalyptic and a report in The British Daily Mail is entitled, "America burning: Drought devastating 26 states is the largest natural disaster area in U.S. history,"
The European Union Times references a shocking report prepared by Russia's Ministry of Agriculture states that the Obama administration has begun making “strident overtures” for Russia to expand it grain exports this year as "the United States faces its worst agricultural disaster in over a quarter century, and perhaps its greatest since the Dust Bowl era of the Great Depression."
A major problem with Obama's plan is that Russia itself has been having a shortfall of grain harvests and has had a very restrictive policy of grain exports in the past. As reported, "Further fears were raised after Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan announced their combined wheat crop would fall 22 percent to 78.9 million tonnes this year from 2011, with the biggest impact on yields from winterkill and spring drought in Russia and Ukraine."
Economic experts, such as Nouriel Roubibi, have been warning that we have an economic "perfect storm" already coming together, and this drought will only help to speed up the timing of an economic apocalypse. This might be a good time to become a "prepper" if you aren't already. There are websites that offer information on how to prepare to survive in the worst of times. Storing up some grain and basic food supplies for the near future is a first step. As noted in the book of Proverbs, "A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it." (Proverbs 22.3, NIV). Though scripture outlines a rapture of the Church, it does not grantee that we will not experience the birth pains of the Tribulation and the End Times, which includes famine according to the words of Jesus in Matthew Chapter 24.
Many are already suffering from hunger in the US due to the continuing economic downturn, and according to surveys by the World Hunger Organization, "Three years after the onset of the financial and economic crisis, hunger remains high in the United States. The financial and economic crisis that erupted in 2008 caused a dramatic increase in hunger in the United States." As noted, "In 2010, 17.2 million households, 14.5 percent of households (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States (Coleman-Jensen 2011)."
NGOs such as Feeding America have does extensive research and found that "millions of Americans today are struggling with hunger." Seniors and children are the ones who are suffering the most. In order to help wake people up to the reality of the situation, Feeding America has provided a free online quiz regarding hunger in America. There are many variables that can influence hunger statistics and people who rely solely on government resources for their information without understanding wider contextual issues are probably not the most informed individuals.
Hunger statistics often don't take into account the fact that those not suffering from hunger are increasingly using government food stamps. "The number of people using food stamps hit an all-time high in May 2011. According to the USDA, 45,753,078 Americans and 21,581,234 households use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps." The US debt bubble, including the financing of social programs, cannot continue to increase forever. What goes up, must come down.
When the Great Depression hit the US, more people were connected to land and had an ability to grow food. Now, huge mega-corporations are operating an increasing amount of land. According to reviews, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of farms in the United States has fallen from about 6.8 million in 1935 to only about 2 million today. If people were dying of starvation back in the 1930's in the US, then many more would likely die now under similar drought and economic collapse scenarios.
(Note: In January 2011, Natural News had posted an article on how United Arab Emirates is using Swiss weather control technology to produce rain in the desert using a "huge array of negative ion generators produce artificial rain storms that dump millions of gallons of fresh water on the desert landscape." Why isn't the US utilizing this technology?)
Tags: worst drought in US history unfolding, apocalyptic drought in US, a perfect storm of disasters coming together. economic perfect storm and agricultural apocalypse at same time. Official map of US drought, preppers are preparing for the worst, End Times famines prophesied in scripture, hunger statistics in US becoming worse, record food stamp use in US, reality of hunger in USA, drought Russia Ukraine, US drought preppers, USA asks Russia for grain
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Wanna bet that the worst case cenario will be higher prices on wheat? If I win, you must acknowledge me as your prophet, able to predict the future of our mystical wprld 8)
ReplyDeleteP.S. A can even make weather forcasts... FEEEAR my power, mear mortals!
P.S. Why bother with "end of the world" supplies if you are going to be raptured by the bearded guy anyway? Does heaven have a shortage of cupcakes?
ReplyDeleteIt seems you are underestimating the severity of the situation and if it was you who was hungry and wondering where your next meal would come from I don't think you would be joking about it. The weather is only one of the factors, the last straw of an already fragile situation, as I mentioned. Your prediction has already been disproved because hunger is already on the increase and this drought will only exacerbate this situation:
ReplyDelete"Three years after the onset of the financial and economic crisis, hunger remains high in the United States. The financial and economic crisis that erupted in 2008 caused a dramatic increase in hunger in the United States."
http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm
The situation is extremely far from riots or "end of the world" idiocy. The American standard for poverty is also far from the one of developing countries. Looking forward to the time in 5 years, when you are going to either still await rapture or trying to rationalize another failure of religious predictions.
ReplyDeleteJust to make fun of Rick s reading disability....Let us quote his original source on world hunger:
ReplyDelete"An estimated 85.5 percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2010, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.5 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 5.4 percent with very low food security—meaning that the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food. The prevalence rate of very low food security declined from 5.7 percent in 2009, while the change in food insecurity overall (from 14.7 percent in 2009) was not statistically significant."
http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/121076/err125_2_.pdf
Indeed, the end of times are upon us
It seems you are underestimating the severity of the situation and if it was you who was hungry and wondering where your next meal would come from I don't think you would be joking about it.
ReplyDeleteIndeed not. On the other hand, Ron Paul and the rest of his Republican brethren, through their strident opposition to any kind of government assistance or economic stimulus, have made the problem you describe *worse* rather than better.
Your concerns about the end times would seem much more sincere if you weren't implicitly supporting the things that cause some of the symptoms.
Consider that your quote does not take into account how many are receiving government subsidies in order to be "food secure" and the US government cannot continue funding debt-based forever:
ReplyDelete"The number of people using food stamps hit an all-time high in May 2011. According to the USDA, 45,753,078 Americans and 21,581,234 households use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/03/food-stamp-usage-highest_n_917038.html
Indeed, we'll see how this all plays out.
Rick, you initially made a claim that there would be a catastrophic shortage of food and increasing hunger in the US. You were proven wrong by YOUR OWN source. But you are still trying to salvage your point, by changing the subject to the economy. See any problems in your thinking?
ReplyDeleteMr. Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou believe you have proven my article to be wrong, that there will not be a food apocalypse in the future, because your reference shows past and present statistics do not appear as alarming as I had implied.
1. Present and past hunger statistics do not determine that there cannot be a future hunger catastrophe in the US.
2. The fact that food subsidies are at an all time high does in fact effect the present hunger statistics.
3. The present US food subsidies are dependent on the unrealistic and unsustainable bloating debt of the US government and economy.
As usual, your logic in attempting to demonstrate that I was "proven wrong" is off the mark.
1. Present and past hunger statistics do not determine that there cannot be a future hunger catastrophe in the US.
DeleteIf your point is simply "There could be a hunger catastrophe in the U.S. in the future", then there'd be no argument. But you were making the strong implication that we are headed there *now*. In which case present and past statistics *do* matter.
3. The present US food subsidies are dependent on the unrealistic and unsustainable bloating debt of the US government and economy.
And this is why you're getting argument -- because you're ascribing causes that you don't support.
If we returned to a tax rate like that of the 50s you hold so dear in other ways -- prayer in the schools and all that -- it would have a drastic *positive* effect on our deficits. Yet, somehow, this never gets brought up as a possible solution.
As usual, your logic in attempting to demonstrate that I was "proven wrong" is off the mark.
You're moving your goalposts again. Just once, Rick, can you admit you were in error on something, instead of falling back to different positions in order to preserve your sense of correctness?
As noted in the article, there are many variables and many aspects that may come together to effect hunger statistics. One, the economy, is not directly related to food at all. As originally noted, we are entering a "perfect storm" of economic chaos. Even if the present drought is completely ignored, this does not bode well for poverty statistics.
ReplyDeleteIt would be logical to deduce that a severe drought in connection with a bad economy would greatly exacerbate the problem of hunger. Offering that 'hunger is not so bad' now, while completely disregarding the fact that food subsidies are at an all time high in the use, is also not logical.
If you both cannot understand these points, I don't see any point in attempting to continue convince you. You can claim you have "disproved" the article, but people who read these commonsense and have an ability to use common sense and critical thinking will be able to decide who is correct. You have disproved nothing.
You can claim you have "disproved" the article,
DeleteI never claimed such a thing.
First of all, you don't make sufficiently strong or solid claims in this article to be "proven" or "disproven". You're pointing with alarm. I just think you're pointing in the wrong direction.
I noted that your claimed (in the comments) argument that "we might have a food apocalypse in the future" was not one that I'd argue with, but that you were making additional side-claims.
Now, as to your note here:
One, the economy, is not directly related to food at all.
This is incorrect; it's related to both production (as in what people can afford to grow, or choose to grow) and consumption (as in what people can afford to eat)
Offering that 'hunger is not so bad' now, while completely disregarding the fact that food subsidies are at an all time high in the use, is also not logical.
It suggests that hunger can be dealt with via subsidy -- that we are strong enough, economically, to make sure that no one goes hungry *if we choose not to let them do so*. However, people have different policy priorities, and having people not starve is not among them for many people, including the Republican Party.
If you both cannot understand these points, I don't see any point in attempting to continue convince you.
We understand these points -- we disagree on them.
You can claim you have "disproved" the article,
Anonymous' claim to have "disproven" you relies on a misconception, actually -- he asserted:
Rick, you initially made a claim that there would be a catastrophic shortage of food and increasing hunger in the US.
Which is not, technically speaking, true. As is common with many of your posts, you present some points, and argue "it might be that..." which is not really a statement subject to proof.
Yes, it's possible that Americans could go hungry. But your *implication*, that this will have to stop because the government can't support people any longer, is untrue, for the reasons that I've been presenting, and you've been ignoring.
I guess I should correct my statement. Rick has claimed that in the near future the USA will suffer a catastrophic shortage of food and the number of starving people is being increased (that is clear from his article and his comments). However, that is simply false. Current statistics even show a slight inprovement in the situation and there is simply no basis whatsoever for an economic end of the world scenario for the US in the next 5 years.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone reading this thread who doubts that hunger in America is a problem, look into the online surveys that support this understanding:
ReplyDelete1 World Hunger Organization - "In 2010, 17.2 million households, 14.5 percent of households (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States (Coleman-Jensen 2011)."
http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm
Feeding America: Feeding America conducts surveys and has found that "millions of Americans today are struggling with hunger." Seniors and children are the ones who are suffering the most. In order to help wake people up to the reality of the situation, Feeding America has provided a free online quiz regarding hunger in America.
http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/quiz.aspx
People who rely solely on government statistics for their information are probably not the most informed individuals.
R:People who rely solely on government statistics for their information are probably not the most informed individuals
ReplyDeleteRick, are you mentally disabled? The Coleman-Jensen report is government statistics (your test is also based on governmental statistics). I would also advise you to make yourself familiar with the terms used in the report (the difference between food insecurity and very low food insecurity).
Not to mention, that the situation has been more or less the same during the 20th century in the US. Hence, it would be idiotic to see it as a "sign" of the end
Drought Hits 56% of US With "Significant Toll "on Crops
ReplyDeleteThe Drought Monitor noted that the drought is starting to "take a significant toll" on food supplies.
http://www.celsias.com/article/drought-hits-56-us-significant-toll-crops/