Food price rise most in 4 decades, people always starve to death when this happens, Bloomberg, 2/11/08

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"People literally will starve to death in parts of the world,

• it always happens when food prices go up," (Mayor) Bloomberg told reporters, 2/11/08

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3/16/11, "Wholesale prices spike on steep rise in food, oil," AP, via AJC

"Higher energy costs and the steepest rise in food prices in nearly four decades drove wholesale prices up last month by the most in nearly two years....

• Food prices soared 3.9 percent last month, the biggest gain since November 1974....

Sharper prices for basic necessities are limiting consumers' ability to spend

• on more discretionary goods....

In addition to rising prices, the weak housing market could also drag on the economy....

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• Ethanol cited in food price rise:

3/16/11, "Wholesale prices up 1.6 pct. on steep rise in food," AP via Yahoo Finance

"Food costs, meanwhile, are rising. Bad weather in the past year has damaged crops in Australia, Russia, and South America.

• Demand for corn for ethanol use has also contributed to the increase.

Prices rose 1 percent for apparel, the most in 21 years. Costs also increased

• for cars, jewelry, and consumer plastics." (item at end of article)

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Reference Bloomberg comment:

2/11/08, "Bloomberg slams U.S. energy law over corn ethanol" Reuters by Louis Charbonneau and Timothy Gardner

• "A new U.S. energy law will cause an increase in global food prices and lead to starvation deaths worldwide

  because it continues to promote corn ethanol, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.

"People literally will starve to death in parts of the world,

• it always happens when food prices go up," Bloomberg told reporters

after addressing a U.N. General Assembly debate on climate change....

--------From the same Reuters article, 2/11/08:

"Cuban leader Fidel Castro blasted the Bush administration's biofuels policy as "genocidal" in a series of articles last year, saying

• they threatened to worsen global hunger by pushing up prices for food crops used to make ethanol."...

via Drudge Report