while you were away...
lest anyone be confused by my previous (successive in blog order) post, or not capable of reading through the dross and dreck of partisan bullshit permeating our press these days to read what's really important, fully 50% of US counties (yes, HALF this once great country of ours) are now officially declared federal disaster areas owing to the catastrophic drought conditions now bedeviling vast swaths of the continent. putting aside for a moment what paul ryan did or didn't have for breakfast, or what that means to the future of organized politics as we know it, has anyone stopped to consider what this is going to mean in terms of bread and butter, dollars and sense economic survival for all of us?
beef mass-producers are outraged that veggie types are excoriating their industry in particular for some perceived imbalance in the H2O necessary to produce a pound of protein vs a concoction of veggie alternatives, (you can't get a pound of beef-quality protein from any single veggie source, which is something you won't see highlighted on the vegan web pages, but lets not digress), all of which ignores the full truth about grass-fed, range-grazed beef as opposed to factory-farmed alternatives, but all of this just produces a further and pointless digression away from the larger point, which is, we're all in deep shit come this time next year, and we have no idea yet what to do about it.
the price of foodstuffs is going to skyrocket. this, in turn, is going to not only hurt families at the supermarket checkout, but it's going to damage restaurant and other food service businesses, whose cost of ingredients is going to take a huge bite out of their bottom line, not to mention their ability to maintain, let alone hire, wait and other staffs. it's further going to upset the US balance of payments, where our food exports will evaporate and imports will burgeon. the federal monies to reimburse those wiped out by the drought will land, in turn, on all the rest of us who are picking up the ever-increasing tab on our have-to-eats. economic sectors based on farm equipment manufacturing and related construction and other ongoing development will implode. this will further serve to reduce tax receipts even while government spending skyrockets, and our collective ability to pay for it shrinks.
so right now, beef producers are slaughtering their herds and selling the meat for whatever they can get, because they can't afford to feed and water them. veggie types are saying we should boycott that entire marketplace, but, seriously, the smartest thing we can do right now is eat the results of that hay while the sun is incessantly shining (amidst the tornadoes and other extreme weather in between) because we're not going to be able to afford burgers at next summer's cookouts. i'm already all-in to help out the lobster fishermen for their particular glut, but ask anyone--i do have room left over for a burger or two as well.
in a proper marketplace, ie one not distorted beyond all legitimate function by those who would think that they know better, (you know, the ones driving priuses/prii instead of biking), we'd all shift to eat whatever we can afford, and the producers would shift to load our tables with it. here's hoping.
in the meantime, expect a vicious bust to the present boom cycle we're enjoying at our supermarket checkout counters, and to pay through the nose for groceries over the coming months. (then look out for the tax bills to come).
i'm betting you won't hear obomney or robama talking turkey about any of it, but take a look at what little info you can glean from the politics-obsessed news media ignoring the whole thing. the picture is not pretty.
beef mass-producers are outraged that veggie types are excoriating their industry in particular for some perceived imbalance in the H2O necessary to produce a pound of protein vs a concoction of veggie alternatives, (you can't get a pound of beef-quality protein from any single veggie source, which is something you won't see highlighted on the vegan web pages, but lets not digress), all of which ignores the full truth about grass-fed, range-grazed beef as opposed to factory-farmed alternatives, but all of this just produces a further and pointless digression away from the larger point, which is, we're all in deep shit come this time next year, and we have no idea yet what to do about it.
the price of foodstuffs is going to skyrocket. this, in turn, is going to not only hurt families at the supermarket checkout, but it's going to damage restaurant and other food service businesses, whose cost of ingredients is going to take a huge bite out of their bottom line, not to mention their ability to maintain, let alone hire, wait and other staffs. it's further going to upset the US balance of payments, where our food exports will evaporate and imports will burgeon. the federal monies to reimburse those wiped out by the drought will land, in turn, on all the rest of us who are picking up the ever-increasing tab on our have-to-eats. economic sectors based on farm equipment manufacturing and related construction and other ongoing development will implode. this will further serve to reduce tax receipts even while government spending skyrockets, and our collective ability to pay for it shrinks.
so right now, beef producers are slaughtering their herds and selling the meat for whatever they can get, because they can't afford to feed and water them. veggie types are saying we should boycott that entire marketplace, but, seriously, the smartest thing we can do right now is eat the results of that hay while the sun is incessantly shining (amidst the tornadoes and other extreme weather in between) because we're not going to be able to afford burgers at next summer's cookouts. i'm already all-in to help out the lobster fishermen for their particular glut, but ask anyone--i do have room left over for a burger or two as well.
in a proper marketplace, ie one not distorted beyond all legitimate function by those who would think that they know better, (you know, the ones driving priuses/prii instead of biking), we'd all shift to eat whatever we can afford, and the producers would shift to load our tables with it. here's hoping.
in the meantime, expect a vicious bust to the present boom cycle we're enjoying at our supermarket checkout counters, and to pay through the nose for groceries over the coming months. (then look out for the tax bills to come).
i'm betting you won't hear obomney or robama talking turkey about any of it, but take a look at what little info you can glean from the politics-obsessed news media ignoring the whole thing. the picture is not pretty.
posted by kad barma at 4:25 PM
2 Comments:
Isn't there some sort of trade-off in land use where plowing is bad and grazing is not so bad? Maybe the Dust Bowl from before my birth.
Regards — Cliff
Grazing on open land also requires no additional water or chemical fertilizers--the grass is growing there regardless of whether cattle are around to eat it, and, in fact, the ecology of grasslands is actually improved by grazing. (Cow dung is awesome fertilizer, among many other benefits).
Or, in other words, "100% grass fed Alberta beef" has nowhere near the environmental impact of factory-farmed beef cattle from elsewhere against which all the veggie types become exercised.
Which, of course, has very little to do with the real problem, which is an American food supply facing crisis conditions without any meaningful response from government other than to hand out checks.
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