more mother hening

I read this little tidbit from a Financial Times article.  There was a lot more besides, but unless you are interested in that kind of stuff, it can be long and lugubrious.  But when I read this particular sentence it caused my stomach to drop. 

“MasterCard on Tuesday said first-quarter profits more than doubled to $447 million, or $3.38 per share, as US consumers put more expenses such as food and petrol on their cards.“

The reason I found it so scary was because that means that people are now going into even deeper debt just to put food on the table.  And with the financial world tightening credit, this seems to me to have the makings of a disaster waiting to explode. 

And then when I listened to the BNN interview with Don Coxe from BMO Financial Group, who specializes in commodities, I got even more worried.  He was talking about the precarious situation that we are in.  And said that unless we have great crops, and everything falls together and the weather cooperated, we could very well have a sustained food crisis in the coming year. 

He said that people might have to double the amount of money they use of their income on food. And that “If we have a crop failure, God help us.“  He pointed out that this will effect everyone but the very rich, because food is not something that you can do without.

Anyway, I don’t know what the answer to this is, but again.  Just in case.  Don’t wait until it is on your doorstep.  Figure out now, what your family will need to do, if in fact our food bills double in the next year.  What can you do now, that would help you get safely through this?  Do you need to take on a part time job?  Is there anywhere you can cut back on expenses?  If so tuck that money away.  Or perhaps use it to buy a few staples that have a long shelf life. 

And if we have a bumper crop year?  Yay!  Then you will hopefully have extra funds to put away for a later date when you might need them. 

Posted by Meg Tilly on Monday, May 05, 2008 in Chewing the Fat