thinking you should maybe cut back on carbs? well, you may get some help with that

[disclaimer: being a pessimist by nature--and believing as i do that not only america but the whole goddam world is going to hell--i just eat alarmist shit like this up, so keep that in mind while reading this and future posts of this type.]

joe.my.god had an item today from the new york sun about reported shortages of staple foods in various parts of the u.s. here's an excerpt from the story:

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.

this was of course roundly dismissed as ridiculous by his commenters ("food shortages here? no way"). but similar stories are popping up on the west coast.

don't think it could happen here in one of the most prosperous, technologically-advanced countries in the world? well, japan didn't think so either--and look at what's happening over there as we speak. some choice paragraphs from an article that appeared yesterday in the australian publication the age:

MARIKO Watanabe admits she could have chosen a better time to take up baking. This week, when the Tokyo housewife visited her local Ito-Yokado supermarket to buy butter to make a cake, she found the shelves bare.

"I went to another supermarket, and then another, and there was no butter at those either. Everywhere I went there were notices saying Japan has run out of butter. I couldn't believe it — this is the first time in my life I've wanted to try baking cakes and I can't get any butter," said the frustrated cook.

A 130% rise in the global cost of wheat in the past year, caused partly by surging demand from China and India and a huge injection of speculative funds into wheat futures . . . has given rise to speculation that Japan, which relies on imports for 90% of its annual wheat consumption, is no longer on the brink of a food crisis, but has fallen off the cliff. According to one government poll, 80% of Japanese are frightened about what the future holds for their food supply.

"In the past, Japan was a rich country with a powerful yen that could easily buy cheap imports such as wheat, corn and soybeans," said Mr Shibata, who directs the Marubeni Research Institute in Tokyo. "But with enormous competition from the booming Chinese and Indian economies, that's changed forever.

now, we're nowhere near as dependent on imported foodstuffs as is japan, but make no mistake about it--this is but a taste of things to come. get ready, because we're all gonna be paying a lot more for a lot less.