FOOD INSECURITY IS COMING TO AMERICA

After one-third of the horrific term of President Joe Biden is almost complete, the United States of America is facing a series of mind-boggling crises.

The Biden administration’s COVID-19 response focused on forcing Americans to wear masks and take vaccines. The President pushed mandates and lockdowns, instead of freedom. The toll on our economy, overall health, and psychological well-being has been staggering.

This week, in their commitment to continue these policies, the administration refused to abandon the unnecessary and ridiculous mask mandate for public transportation and will appeal a federal judge’s sensible ruling striking down this unpopular mandate.

There is an unprecedented crisis on our southern border as an invasion of illegal immigrants continues to pour into our country. This is leading to a massive increase in illegal drugs, which is contributing to a record number of drug overdose deaths.

Fueled by a rise in illegal drugs, illegal immigrants, and “woke” prosecutors in urban areas, violent crime is skyrocketing in America. Our police officers are overwhelmed, underpaid, and constantly disrespected by progressive Democrats who blame them for the dangerous conditions instead of the real culprits, the violent criminals.

Americans are facing a plethora of economic troubles as huge debt, reckless spending and the targeting of our energy industry contributed to record gasoline prices and devastating inflation levels. The wages of workers are not keeping pace with the high inflation rates, so Americans are falling further behind economically.

To combat inflation, interest rates are increasing, which will make home-buying more difficult and cause problems for our real estate industry.

While all these problems are truly dreadful, the scariest issue that will soon be facing Americans is an unfamiliar situation in the wealthiest country on earth, a food shortage. The last time the United States faced a real food shortage was during the Great Depression of the 1930s. At that time, there were “hunger marches” as millions of Americans were impacted by food shortages made worse by a severe drought in the Great Plains.

While we face nothing like that situation today, there are disturbing signs of trouble ahead. Already, Americans are noticing many shelves to be empty at local grocery stores.

The war in Ukraine has made a dire situation much worse. Both Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of food, such as wheat. In Ukraine, many farms have been destroyed during the war and able-bodied farmers are fighting on the front lines instead of tending to their fields.

The result was predictable, as global food prices soared 12% in the first few weeks of the war. The Executive Director of the World Food Program, David Beasley, called the escalating food shortages caused by the war a “catastrophe on top of catastrophe.” Even President Biden admitted that the war in Ukraine will lead to “real” food shortages in the days ahead.

To make matters worse, there have been a series of unusual accidents at food processing plants and warehouses in recent months. There have been fires, unexplained accidents, and even a deadly plane crash, which occurred Thursday, at a General Mills plant in Covington, Georgia. Sadly, two people were killed and there was considerable damage at the plant with numerous trailers being destroyed.

The plane crash occurred just two days after a fire destroyed the headquarters of Azure Standard, the nation’s largest manufacturer of organic and healthy food, in Dufur, Oregon.

With almost two dozen incidents in the last year, it is hard to imagine these events at similar facilities being purely coincidental. Regardless, the Biden administration has no answer to this dilemma. In fact, recent actions will make the situation even worse.

On April 14, Biden announced that a gasoline blend with 15% ethanol would be allowed during the summer. It is normally prohibited during the summer months because of negative environmental effects, such as increased pollution. The President waived this prohibition so that Americans would have minor relief in gasoline prices.

Unfortunately, this change will encourage more farmers to use their crops for ethanol, a biofuel that is made with corn. The result will be a shortage in food products, such as sweet corn, and corn feed, which is used to put weight on livestock. Thus, meat prices will soar to even higher levels.

The ethanol decision is particularly unwise as the country faces an upcoming food shortage. Nevertheless, the Biden administration is uninterested in addressing the real anxieties of Americans. Instead, their major areas of focus are pushing the climate change agenda, globalism, and retaining power. The actual economic condition of the American people is of little concern to Biden and his administration.

Curiously, as America faces this food crisis, approximately 250,000 acres of our farmland have been purchased by billionaire Bill Gates. In fact, Gates is the largest owner of farmland in the country.

Simultaneously, investors with ties to communist China have purchased almost 200,000 acres of our farmland. Both Gates and China are poised to reap massive financial benefits as food prices continue to rise. Even worse, it is a true national security dilemma for communist China to own such a significant amount of our country’s farmland as a food shortage is looming.

The United States Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.” Sadly, this “condition” is coming to America in the very near future.

To combat this crisis, the Biden administration should be working overtime to investigate the troubling incidents at food processing plants and encourage farmers to expand their food crops, not redirect them toward ethanol.

In addition, Biden and his administration should be focused on trying to negotiate a peace settlement to the war in Ukraine. Instead, this administration is allowing other countries, such as Turkey, to take the diplomatic lead in efforts to end the war.

It seems as if the President and his administration are doing everything possible to exacerbate the impending food shortage instead of solving it. 

By Jeff Crouere
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Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs nationally on Real America's Voice Network, AmericasVoice.News weekdays at 7 a.m. CT and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com