Please Read. Pass it on.

I don't tend to get into politics or "crunchy" topics here much, though they are an extremely important facet of my thinking (and part of the reason I'm exploring these "old" topics of frugality).

But I also have strong ideals and a sense of fairness in the world. I do call my congressmen. I do write letters. I do share facts and information on topics about which I feel strongly.

I'm also a regular reader of a Little Blog in the Big Woods. And he's starting the push. Too many people are hungry. Too many people are making money by making people hungry.

Yes.

People are making money by making people hungry.

Did you even know it was possible? How about legal??

Food speculation, where folks bet on future prices of food, artificially drive up the price of food products. We think we know who takes a cut from the food we buy at the grocery store, but do we really? Let's see: there's the farmer, he needs paid, then there's the wholesaler, and maybe the packager and processor, and there's the transporters, and the stockers, and the retailers...how about the Wall Street fund managers? They get their kickback, too!

Really.

But there is something you and I can do about it. Read here, and here, and here where someone far more informed and impassioned than I am is leading the push to outlaw profits for driving up food prices.

Straight from his blog:

So, the world is running out of food? People may starve? Way cool! We
can make money!
"Investing in agriculture has been rewarding, even after a recent pullback. PowerShares DB Agriculture, for example, gained almost 19% through April 10 -- far outpacing the U.S. market. "What a great idea. Let's add to the cost of food- by adding food speculators to the scenario. Those are people who buy "futures", which are a bet, basically, that it'll be worth more than the experts are guessing. If they're big enough, they actually "hold commodities". Waiting for the price to go- up.
Guess what? Add a couple thousand "investors"- all buying- and.. hey, the price
goes up!
Now here is a practice that the world should outlaw- NOW. It serves NO useful public purpose- it's only to make people with money richer.
Shame on us.

It is possible to stop this. It's going into a committee this week to debate. We can put an end to speculation on food, the buying and holding of food, to make a profit! To drive the prices up, and out of the reach of those who need it most!

If you're having trouble with your grocery bills, and you're reading this, then you're far better off than most of the hungriest people in the world, who can't afford a single daily meal, and every day it's getting worse.

Go.

Read.

Then act.

If you don't do something, then it's worse than doing nothing - you know and you choose to allow it. How does that old saying go? By your inaction you are complicit in the evil actions you chose not to stop, or something like that?

There are many evils in this world. We have the opportunity to stop one of them. How can we refuse??