Outside of a Miss America contest we hear very little about world hunger, which as national economies fail across the world, should actually be an open issue. What some might not realize is that this growing concern is that not only might it have been prompted by our neighborhood friends on Wall Street, but there are many profiting from hunger.
Think of oil and gas prices being speculated and traded on, now, substitute wheat the same way and we can start to understand how this might have been possible. What some are calling the inevitable “food bubble” the prices of food has risen roughly 80% between 2005-2008. The result is a smaller supply, higher demand and imaginary prices creating our real ones.
There have been accusations of profiting from the food shortages against another corporation, Glencore . They trade in commodities like food, oil, gas, etc. and reported about a 3 billion dollar profit(before taxes). In addition, the company has lobbied heavily to prevent any reform that could jeopardize their future in the industry…what industry? I’m not sure, I don’t know too many people pursuing a career in starvation expert, but what the hell, I’m sure their response will be to “Let them eat cake.”*
Yes, I know, “Let them eat cake” misrepresents Marie Antoinette, but for this purpose let’s continue the legacy.
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As I have said before, social workers should be in the forefront of planning programs. Let me know how we can come together to plan programs that will aid the hunger crisis.
Do we lobby for this in Washington? Where are we in the “influence peddling” game? Do our voices matter? In the past (long past), I approached a candidate for state senate about this issue of single mothers not receiving adequate pay. He looked at me as if I had bleached in his face and didn’t even bother to voice a response. Are we any closer to be being taken seriously when it comes to attempting the “leveling of the playing field” for people in need?
Business has always profited from food- it is the foundation of economies. It goes beyond DC- this is a world-wide issue. There is plenty of food to go around- the question is distribution. The best role for social work is to teach people how to budget, buy healthy food cheaply, learn how to prepare it, teach then how to grow it if possible, in every nation that social work exists as a profession. Increase market supply, prices will go down.
As to single moms— access to birth control, moral living in terms of marriage before children, better child support enforcement, and proper family planning is the answer- the government in a free society cannot mandate pay by gender and amount of children, esp. to private corporations.