Food prices are on the rise across the globe, fueling much of the political unrest that continues to rage in parts of the Middle East. Unexpectedly severe weather and soaring demand have pushed food prices to “dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people,” said World Bank President Robert Zoellick earlier this month. “Global food prices are approaching an all-time high,” agreed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her testimony before the Senate last week. If food shortages caused by the rise in prices continue, Latin America could see …
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) dropped by Heritage this afternoon for our Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing to talk about his Middle Class Bill of Rights, a plan he’s crafted to address concerns he’s hearing from constituents in his district and across America. Cantor said for too long Democrats have claimed to ownership over the middle class. He’s hoping to change that perception with a plan that: Brings down gas prices Lowers the cost of food Makes paychecks go further Creates more jobs and ensures safer retirements Provides health care coverage for families …
Tomorrow, Rick Warren, author of the 2002 best-seller “The Purpose Driven Life,” will host John McCain and Barack Obama at his 22,000-member Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., where he will question them on matters of concern to evangelical Christians, including poverty, the environment, human rights and AIDS. The standard media line that evangelicals are “divided” along political fault lines misses the point, as Heritage’s Ryan Messmore notes on National Review Online today. A better focus should be not what government can and should do to alleviate social problems but …
The truth is out: Congress’ attempt at “energy security” helped cause a global food crisis. According to a confidential World Bank study, as reported by The Guardian, biofuels are the primary cause of the global food crisis, forcing up world food prices by 75%. This is a shocking difference from the usual 3% impact the U.S. government has been reporting. In America, the production of these biofuels was legislated by Congress, through subsidies and mandates requiring their production. The biofuel bonanza began with the rush to provide what Congress terms …
Domestically produced corn based ethanol has enjoyed preferential federal treatment for years including a $0.51 per gallon tax credit and tariffs that discourage potentially cheaper sugar cane-based ethanol from Brazil. Federal government government support for ethanol has only increased in recent years with the first ever renewable fuel mandate for gasoline in 2005 and the significant raise of the mandate in 2007. Few in Washington predicted the costs of this government interference in the energy market, but now they are beginning to be widely accepted. Heritage scholars Ben Lieberman and …
Food riots have forced the collapse of the government in Haiti. People are dying in food lines in Egypt. The U.N. warns that food stocks for 450,000 Cambodian children is set to tun out in 30 days. Rising hunger is contributing to instability in Afghanistan. In India, even the gods are going hungry. After more than 30 years of declining hunger, suddenly, this year soaring commodity prices are causing hunger worldwide. The poor are are suffering the most. Some are blaming the food crisis on droughts in Australia and growing …
On April 10, 2008 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) destroyed over 30 years of U.S. leadership on free trade by gutting Trade Promotion Authority to kill the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. With riots breaking out all over the world due to high food prices (in part caused by Democrat ethanol mandates) George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen explains how trade could help alleviate hunger: Rising food prices mean hunger for millions and also political unrest, as has already been seen in Haiti, Egypt and Ivory Coast. Yes, more expensive energy …
The Environmental Defense Fund this week released a “study” purporting to show that instituting a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions in the United States would have virtually no economic impact. These claims would be laughably false if policies previously adopted at the behest of the environmental movement were not already contributing to the starvation of millions worldwide. Biofuel mandates and hunger According to the World Food Program, more than 100 million people are being driven into poverty by a “silent tsunami” of sharply rising food prices. The hungry are rioting in …
