| Slate has an interesting piece out called "Protesting on an Empty Stomach: How the Egyptian economy is fueling unrest in Egypt." I visited Egypt in 1999 and I was floored by the very apparent and horrific poverty there. Everyone wasn't poor. The lovely woman guiding our tour to the Pyramids was doing very well, thank you. But the beggars in the street - and there were tons of them - were as destitute as I had ever seen. According to Slate, neoliberal policies have allowed the country to prosper on paper, but the gains only went to the wealthiest 20%. At the same time, the poor remained poor.
According to Slate, Egypt is the world's top importer of wheat, and food inflation has topped 20% lately. Already, Egyptian families spend some 40% of monthly income on food, so you can imagine the impact of food price inflation.
According to Slate:
The Egyptian government does subsidize bread and other staples for poorer Egyptians, ameliorating the price increase somewhat. But most Egyptians purchase bread beyond what the subsidy allows. And the threat of instability has already pushed food costs higher in the Egyptian capital and elsewhere. Plus, rising food prices have a long history of causing social unrest in the country. In 1977, the state cut subsidies of basic staples, leading to deadly riots. In 2008, when food prices hit their first peak, Egyptians again took to the streets.
Another point of interest is why Americans HAVEN'T noticed rising global food prices:
So why haven't Americans noticed an uptick in costs at the supermarket? Mostly because raw food costs are a smaller proportion of overall food costs for American consumers. When you buy a box of Wheaties, you're paying for packaging, advertising, and processing, as well as the wheat, making the price more insulated from inflation. In addition, U.S. food producers tend to trade in the futures markets to smooth costs-meaning ingredient costs get locked in months or even years in advance. |
