Meat Prices Skyrocket: Is Soylent Green on the Horizon?

The crushing economic destruction of the American people is to borrow one of those great Orwellian terms from the oligarchy's media shills "picking up steam".  Food prices, in particular meat prices are currently exploding into the stratosphere in inverse proportion to the purchasing power of American wage slaves who continue to be sucked dry by the corrupt government, the permanent war machine and the ongoing subsidizing of Wall Street casinos. It is a long holiday weekend and the traditional BBQ's that will take place will likely feature more cheap hamburger cut with pink slime and additive packed hot dogs than actual steak and beef ribs. The next leg down on the collapse is under way and it is going to hit Americans in the pocketbook as well as their stomachs.

A recent post from libertarian financial blog Zero Hedge  "The Meat Crisis Is Here: Price Of Shrimp Up 61% – 7 Million Pigs Dead – Beef At All-Time High" (originally at The Economic Collapse by Michael Snyder) provides the following grim news:

As the price of meat continues to skyrocket, will it soon be considered a "luxury item" for most American families?  This week we learned that the price of meat in the United States rose at the fastest pace in more than 10 years last month.  Leading the way is the price of shrimp.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of shrimp has jumped an astounding 61 percent compared to a year ago.  The price of pork is also moving upward aggressively thanks to a disease which has already killed about 10 percent of all of the pigs in the entire country.  And the endless drought in the western half of the country has caused the size of the U.S. cattle herd to shrink to a 63 year low and has pushed the price of beef to an all-time high.  This is really bad news if you like to eat meat.  The truth is that the coming "meat crisis" is already here, and it looks like it is going to get a lot worse in the months ahead.

A devastating bacterial disease called "early mortality syndrome" is crippling the shrimping industry all over Asia right now.  According to Bloomberg, this has pushed the price of shrimp up 61 percent over the past 12 months...

In March, shrimp prices jumped 61 percent from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The climb is mainly due to a bacterial disease known as early mortality syndrome. While the ailment has no effect on humans, it’s wreaking havoc on young shrimp farmed in Southeast Asia, shrinking supplies.

This disease has an extremely high mortality rate.  In fact, according to the article that I just quoted, it kills approximately nine out of every ten shrimp that it infects...

Cases of early mortality syndrome, which destroys the digestive systems of young shrimp, were first reported in China in 2009, said Donald Lightner, a professor of animal and comparative biomedical sciences at University of Arizona in Tucson.

The disease, which kills about 90 percent of the shrimp it infects, traveled from China to Vietnam to Malaysia and then to Thailand, he said. Cases also were reported in Mexico last year, Lightner said.

A different disease is driving up the price of pork in the United States.  It is known as the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, and in less than a year it has spread to 30 states and has killed approximately 7 million pigs.

The price of bacon is already up 13.1 percent over the past year, but this is just the beginning.

It is being projected that U.S. pork production could be down by as much as 10 percent this year, and Americans could end up paying up to 20 percent more for pork by the end of 2014.

The price of beef has also moved to unprecedented heights.  Thanks to the crippling drought that never seems to end in the western half of the nation, the size of the U.S. cattle herd has been declining for seven years in a row, and it is now the smallest that is has been since 1951.

Over the past year, the price of ground chuck beef is up 5.9 percent.  It would have been worse, but ranchers have been slaughtering lots of cattle in order to thin their herds in a desperate attempt to get through this drought.  If this drought does not end soon, the price of beef is going to go much, much higher.

As prices for shrimp, pork and beef have risen, many consumers have been eating more chicken.  But the price of chicken is rising rapidly as well.

In fact, the price of chicken breast is up 12.4 percent over the past 12 months.

Not ones to in the words of the slimy mayor of Chicago never let a good crisis go to waste there is money to be made off of the rising cost of meat and with drought raging through California the cash register bells are ringing as big food corporations rush to increase production of chicken which will further drive up prices. There are very tough days coming, especially as the government offsets costs in programs - such as food stamps to continue to buy more jets, drones, tanks, bombs, armored personnel carriers as well as keep the gamblers who run the financial markets afloat perhaps there is the day coming where the convergence of forces sparks a new growth industry in providing an alternative food source.

The reference to Soylent Green may be lost on some but any person of my age, science fiction movie fans and others whose knowledge of popular culture isn't mired in the era of reality trash television is of course one to the classic - and like so many others of the era - now prophetic 1973 movie. The film starred macho man Charlton Heston while he was between his most famous gigs as Moses and head of the National Rifle Association and predicted a dystopian future of overpopulation, poverty and food shortages. Someone in the future had an innovative idea on how to solve the food shortages and that was Soylent Green. Considering the stupid, demented, unimaginative and psychotic qualities of our political elite it would be no surprise whatsoever if this idea is already bouncing around in the hallowed confines of the best and the brightest in Washington and New York. I saw the movie as a young teen and it has stuck with me ever since, when it comes to a grim depiction of the future it only lags behind "The Road" and "Idiocracy" in terms of terrifying scenarios.

The weekly trips to the grocery store keep adding up as do gas, electric and housing costs - all of which are not included in official government calculations of what constitutes inflation as "Core Inflation" omits food and energy costs. For the past few years portions have been shrinking as big food conglomerates design packaging that is ever smaller while not lowering prices and luxury items continue to rise in price. With the meat price spike it is going to become imperative to alter my diet and finally appease my cardiologist who has been advising me to cut down on the consumption of meat for years now. Hey, I like vegetables, beans and rice and have a damned good and reasonable local produce stand very close to me so a change in eating habits is doable. What is troubling is that with the growth in pre-prepared convenient food over the last couple of decades that others may not be able to make the transition as easily as I.

I suspect that at this rate that in some households across the fruited plain that the family dog may soon end up on the menu out of necessity as meat becomes increasingly priced out of the budget of the beggared masses.

Soylent Red, White and Blue anyone?

The Coming Militarization of the Arctic

On Friday Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel rolled out the latest expansion of U.S. militarism, this time in the Arctic which is sure to be a 'plum' duty assignment for military personnel whose job is bad enough without having to deal with freezing their asses off. While there may be a good amount of ideological squabbling regarding climate change as it is yet another of the idiotic political footballs that get kicked around in this country it does in fact exist. Because as we now see with this news the energy cartels and the U.S. Military are planning for it and have been for years now, big money does not deny pertinent information when there are profits to be reaped and new territories to be exploited. There are untold billions of dollars of oil wealth in the Arctic as the ice continues to melt facilitating exploration and Uncle Sam fully intends to plant Old Glory in the snow. 

Once again it is perfectly evident where our national priorities lie under the current leadership and the hegemonic era of full spectrum dominance. Our national credit card has been maxed out paying for the expenditures necessary to fund the warfare state that has eviscerated the country. Our streets are filled with the impoverished victims of a system on the verge of collapse, our infrastructure is obsolete and crumbling and our economy is a fraud, only kept afloat by the 85 billion dollar a month heroin fix of free gambling money from the Federal Reserve. There is always money for increased military endeavors, costly and unnecessary weapons systems and the armies of overpaid contractors that feed on it all like blood-sucking vampires.

Such a move was inevitable, not only for the obvious monetary value to big U.S. business but to offset Russia which has already announced the reopening of a military installation in the Arctic with President Vladimir Putin making no secret of the importance to Russian economic interests. So we now once again have another hot area of potential exploitation by a war-crazed establishment and as global geopolitics are currently in an area of flux due to the breakthrough deal with Iran on the sanctions/nuclear program over the weekend and the coming blitzkrieg from the obvious saboteurs whose lives are dedicated to attacking Tehran. Depending on the ability of the warmongers and a large number of treacherous rats of dubious loyalty in congress to sink the deal by pushing for stronger sanctions the region could soon end up being another front of what would be World War III. Oh, and China also has an eye on an increased presence in the region.

While Mr.  Hagel may now be talking about an avoidance of "conflict" as the rush to the riches ensues he also continues to talk the talk of the new American century: "We will remain prepared to detect, deter, prevent and defeat threats to our homeland and we will continue to exercise U.S. sovereignty in and around Alaska". It's always that "Homeland" reference that is so truly offensive and illustrative that what was once theoretically a free country can never be again as long as the invocations of the ever present and always vague "threats" are a part of the establishment lexicon.  The same type of rhetoric was used to justify the expansion of the U.S. military into the country itself despite the Posse Comitatus Act with NORTHCOM a few years ago with the purpose of providing actual military support to paramilitary police and domestic surveillance.

While the Arctic expansion of the military mission should be no surprise to anyone who pays attention it is notable and relevant as the formal pronouncement from the Secretary of Defense on Friday in Nova Scotia is newsworthy although you won't read much about it in the corrupt state-corporate media. The official Arctic strategy paper can be found here in .pdf format.