Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

April 4, 2008

Over the past three months, the price of rice has doubled. On account of poor harvests, global wheat supplies are at the lowest levels in the past half-century.

Food riots have erupted in Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. Armed soldiers have been deployed to guard wheat and flour deliveries in Pakistan, and in the Philippines, President Arroyo has begun a government crackdown on people accused of ?hoarding? rice and other grain.

Such civil unrest isn?t just the product of harvest shortfalls; it also reflects Washington?s ability to export inflation world-wide. Turmoil triggered by inflated food prices will lead many countries to break the so-called dollar peg. This in turn will severely reduce Washington?s ability to limit or disguise the impact of several decades of dollar inflation.

When this happens, American consumers will have a disagreeable taste of the same kind of desperation that drives food consumers in the developing world.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.