LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman. Winner 2013 Webby Awards for Best Political Website
May 23, 2013

 Choose a size
Text Size

Trending:     chris hedges     economy     elizabeth warren     politics     robert scheer
Most Read

A Call to Action

Bizarre, Apparently Jihadist Slaying in London (Video)

Hell on Earth for Greeks

Revenge of the Bear: Russia Strikes Back in Syria

Another Memorial Day in This Endless War

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture
 * NEW! * A Call to Action
Act of Congress
Daily Rituals

Digs

Truthdig Bazaar more items

 
Ear to the Ground

Soaring Food Prices Threaten Asia’s Poor

Email this item Email    Print this item Print    Share this item... Share

Posted on Apr 26, 2011
Flickr / jankie

Due to rising food prices, the Asian Development Bank is forecasting a surge in the number of people counted within the region’s severely impoverished class.

As many as 64 million people—most of whom spend more than half of their income on food alone—could soon find themselves facing conditions of extreme poverty, which the ADB defines as “the degree of poverty below which the minimal requirements for survival are not being met.” —ARK

BBC:

The ADB has warned that the recent surge in food price is threatening to push millions of Asians into extreme poverty.

According to the bank’s study a 10% rise in domestic food prices may result in almost 64m people being pushed into extreme poverty.

According to the ADB’s chief economist, Changyong Rhee, “for poor families in developing Asia, who already spend more than 60% of their income on food, higher prices further reduce their ability to pay for medical care and their children’s education.”

“Left unchecked, the food crisis will badly undermine recent gains in poverty reduction made in Asia,” he added.

Read more

More Below the Ad

Advertisement


New and Improved Comments

If you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy.

By Hugh Alexander Culliton, April 27, 2011 at 9:31 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

And so it begins: the Asian Tiger economies are running into the wall of resource depletion -  especially peak oil.  As always, the poor are going to get hurt first and the most, but I fear that these are scenes of coming attractions for those of us in the developed world.

Report this

By purplewolf, April 27, 2011 at 9:12 am Link to this comment

Myronh: You can look at humans as a cash crop. The more people the more money the rich make. Many companies like Walmart and Belle Tire have life insurance policies on their employees and many other companies have life insurance policies on total strangers. This is not illegal in America, but it should be. When the insured person dies, the companies are not legally responsible for paying off any debts the deceased person might have, their family gets stuck with that and the unknown benefactors get 100% profit from the deceased, minus the original cost of insuring strangers.

Bet if everyday people like us tried to do the same thing the government would jump on us in a heartbeat claiming fraud or something, but as long as it is the biggest and richest in America, it’s okay to make money off peoples suffering anyway they can. So by forcing every pregnancy to term as the Repukelicans are doing, they are actually making more money from the growing misery of the peons in America and the rest of the world.

Besides they can jack up the prices of food even more as people desperate enough will give their last penny or youngest child for a few more grains of rice.

Report this

By Myronh, April 27, 2011 at 8:23 am Link to this comment

The Republican religious-right just might be correct in prohibiting abortion and birth-control. Why waste all that money when we can get rid of both the baby and the creators by starvation. And of coarse there is a major by-product of starvation, which is a huge saving of food for the rich.

We just can’t get a better deal than that, and it may just become popular in the Land-of-Plenty formerly known as the USA.

Report this
Newsletter

sign up to get updates


 
 
 
 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.