Potential Food and Energy Shortage Across the World

[Benjamin]

Here in Alberta I haven't noticed many shortages of food. There was a blip when the BC floods cut the highway but recovered fairly quickly. I have noticed prices generally have increased pretty much across the board by ~10% with some exceptions but if you wait for a sale or price drop it's not too bad. Bacon has increased by about $4 for a 1kg pack ($16), and pork loin has increased about $10 last year. Beef is always expensive. I don't even bother looking unless it's a cheap cut roast. A pork lion will run around $35-$38 now, whereas a beef loin of similar size runs at $70-$80. Chicken breasts have gone up by about $5 dollars per club pack but again I wait for a price drop. I always look for the % off stickers. I'll buy several packs of whatever, individually re-pack and freeze. A weird shortage I noticed around Caesarmass was regular Cheerios. They were out for weeks. Don't know why. People making their own 'nuts an' bolts'? You could only buy sugar-coated cheer.

I don't know why but this thread actually triggered a memory from my genealogy work. From my dad's line in Mecklenburg, Germany I was always running into the job titles of 'Taglöhner' (day laborer) and 'Arbeitsmann' (workman) everywhere. But there was another title that I also ran into a lot which was 'Hauswirt'. The current translation of this is 'landlord' which made no sense to me during the 1600 -1800's. I found another person had posted the question on Ancestry forums asking what this was and the reply was someone/family who lived in a one room house no better then a shack and had a plot of land that they did not own. They grew vegetables on this land but not grains. They could eat the food but a certain amount was for the 'lord' of the land upon which they lived. I can't remember who said it, but I remember reading a quote that summed up the situation in Mecklenburg back then quite vividly which went something like, "Whatever happens in Mecklenburg has happened everywhere else 100 years before." It's funny and sad at the same time.

 

[mxwlll0]

Thoughts from Northern California. I haven’t noticed bare shelves that give any indication that food shortages are upcoming. Maybe some low stock from time to time and prices a little higher on some items. Our area produces quite a bit food so there are a few local options or within the area, so not a lot of reliance on imported food.

I found this article to be a good summary for “the state of supply-chain” and provides some perspective on where we’ve been and where we may be headed going into 2022:

Supply chains in 2022: shortages will continue, but for some sellers the problem will be too much stock

There’s much to be said from my perspective as well having joined a logistic start up at the beginning of plandemic. I figured if I had to design for something that I could learn more about “who designs the world and why?” then a logistics platform would be a potential good place. And now spending nearly the last 2 years having a bird’s eye view of the ongoing reconfiguration of the supply-chain there’s much to speculate…

So, is the supply-chain just going to shut down? I don’t think so. I see shortages affecting areas regionally that rely heavily on imports and don’t export a range of goods with much tangible value.

There’s also the keyword of “visibility”
within the “opaque” world of supply-chain. Visibility refers to the digitalization of the supply-chain in order to provide two-way accountability. Sounds like good thing — even “multi-polar” if the ends are mutual, that is unless you’re an ideological possessed technocratic betting on visibility to provide “full spectrum dominance.” In that case…

If you’re a community, county, state, country and you do not comply with “green” or “zero emission” policies well, we can call a lockdown due to increased cases, choke-hold trade lanes and divert shipments quickly. This form of economic extortion by targeting specific regions while never maximizing profits through the perception of scarcity will likely continue as a strategy by the PTB.

And this is where I see the weaponization of food as very plausible and an easy way to get people to comply to the “Great Reset” - “control the food, control the people”.

Basically I see scarcity being manufactured with greater precision for these platforms targeting those areas that reject the great reset, but those areas with the most resiliency will have the best opportunity to redefine their communities and build something much better than what the technocratic pathocrats have envisioned - self-sustaining creative communities built on ingenuity and sweat of their own free will - the “Great Reject”.

Another aspect to highlight - the record profits from container or capacity crunch is indirectly a consequence of the lockdowns and the largest container companies seem to be creating their own bubble while funding they’re next investments from the current record profits - again green tech, zero emissions ships and other gadgetry. Here’s an article that speculates to some degree on the above:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...2c4196-7446-11ec-a26d-1c21c16b1c93_story.html

So, while many container companies are buying large volumes of container boxes to meet demand once these containers flood the capacity market, demand will drop and the bubble bursts - why would they crash they’re own wave? “The future!” Mainly so they can continue to control the amount and price of cargo space available while their profit margins continue to increase.

This last quarter in 2021 I noticed quite a bit of consolidation. Major container lines such as Maersk are creating a closed end to end supply-chain where they can control all aspects of the business. Here’s an example:

https://www.themiddlemarket.com/new...warehouse-giant-lf-logistics-in-3-6b-takeover

Plus they’ve already funded or continuing to fund (such as Maersk just sold options to buy alt fuel container ships) that future through further manipulation of supply/demand conveniently using crisis capitalism - aka lockdowns because of XYZ variant. It’s pure greed and maniacal. It’s also no surprise that logistic index’s ended 2021 on record highs…

Major freight indexes hit new record-highs on the last day of the year - Container News

Maersk Exercises Options for Four More Methanol-Powered Containerships

Well, this post became quite long, but hope it’s helpful info (even if a bit rambley). But with a supply-chain in this much flux along side all the PTB hubris to control the outcomes, it seems Mother Nature is poised to throw a frozen wrench into their plans.

 

[PERLOU]

Pour le moment en France sur la Côte d'Azur aucune pénurie dans les magasins d'alimentation mais cela pourrait venir...
J'entends juste parler de la Vitmine D qui pourrait ne plus être commercialisée...

For the moment in France on the French Riviera, there is no shortage in the food stores but it could come...
I just hear about Vitmine D which might not be marketed anymore...

 

[loreta]

I was talking to a man that is working in a Chinese food store (he is not Chinese himself, that's why I am able to have a conversation with him. In a regular Chinese store, all the Chinese do not like communication and they almost no speak Spanish). So I told him that the prices are up since one week, he said that before, a container costed around 3-4 thousand euros, now it costs 14 thousand. And some products that are not in the store now, he does not know if they will be again on the shelves.

In another very good big store I saw that the pastry section is smaller, no more croissants and all this devil food.

The big problem also is not only concerning food. This situation is in a mechanic machine, everything is part of the mechanic and the machine. So: fewer workers in the stores, instead of 2 or 3, now one. Fewer people working in banks: instead of 3 now one. And it will grow day after day, week after week. The consequences are dramatic for everyone.

 

[Mike]

but other events waaaay beyond their control might intervene and make their little drill go a little too 'live' for even their liking.

I don't know if you had something natural in mind, because it doesn't read like that, but I thought of the big Tonga volcano eruption today in relation to this. People in some section of the Alt online world may even try to say that the eruption was man-made and a warning from this side or that in terms of war or even the part of the war starting.

But figure mother earth/universe might be saying, in a way, "you want to do what you have been doing and what you are planning... ok, children." The Tool song lyrics from the song Ænema come to mind "'Cause Mom's gonna fix it all soon. Mom's comin' 'round to put it back the way it ought to be." - help is on the way?

 

[SubnetUnMask]

SC here,

I shop mostly at Aldi and Publix - I've noticed Aldi has sections of shelving that are completely empty now and have not been refilled. In other sections of the store, they have added non-food items that take up a lot of shelf space. At Publix, it's still fairly well stocked. Lowes, I noticed some items were low - I also noticed shelving filled up with plastic bins, but instead of stacking them to save space, each container was laid out on the shelf to take up as much space as possible. So, it seems like these places are trying to hide the fact that they don't have as much product as before, which makes sense anyways, don't want to have bare shelving for the kind of message it sends to the customer.

Prices definitely have gone up. I'd say 15-30% on many items like meat and anything made from seasonal produce. Last night I bought a bottle of pure cherry juice to mix with water for drinks, it's usually 9.99 for a 20oz bottle, but now it's 13.49.

I'm not really sure what to do.. I keep thinking "I wonder how much worse it's going to get in the coming months and years?" I've stocked up some freeze dried meals, meats, hygiene items, supplements. None of my family or friends really seem to notice or care :/

 

[woneill1701]

So I'd say keep a close eye on Ukraine and Russia-US relations over the next few weeks, and also the 'emerging' threat of a major 'cyber attack on the supply chain', which the EU are planning to run a 6 week exercise on later this month.

EU to Stage Large-Scale Cyberattack Exercise on Supply Chains

My expectation is that the situation with Russia will impact the supply chain issue in a more direct way: Many people are speculating about Russia initiating a military solution to the situation in Ukraine along with general NATO encroachment on its borders… But they don’t need to do that!

By partnering with China they can disrupt the supply side of the supply chain at the same time (blaming COVID), as they trigger a default condition that tears an arm or a leg from the western economic system.

2007/2008 showed just how fragile and coupled the western economies are, and a hybrid attack that shuts down the supply chain at the same time as the economy craters would win them the new cold war without a shot needing to be fired!

They wouldn’t even need to disrupt the supply of gas to Europe…

 

[Mike]

2007/2008 showed just how fragile and coupled the western economies are, and a hybrid attack that shuts down the supply chain at the same time as the economy craters would win them the new cold war without a shot needing to be fired!

I saw this mentioned the other day:

Russia & NATO fail to find common ground – Moscow

The US-led NATO military bloc has reverted to full Cold War strategy of “containment” towards Russia and seeks “full spectrum dominance,” Moscow's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters on Wednesday.

www.rt.com

The US-led NATO military bloc has reverted to full Cold War strategy of “containment” towards Russia and seeks “full spectrum dominance,” Moscow's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters on Wednesday.

The diplomat added that Moscow believes NATO’s behavior is creating a “unacceptable” threat to Russia that it will have to counter.

I don't know how fast or how Russia will go about doing so, but I think they will target this "full spectrum dominance" aspect. I wouldn't be surprised if and when things kick off that it is lightning fast and coordinated actions against many aspects of the spectrum. And there may be a systematic plan to go after aspects of all of it, possibly with short breaks to see what kind of response happens in return.

Also, I figure both sides think they know the weaknesses of the other and will try to exploit them.

Any aspect of a hot war breaking out would have many obvious knock on affects in the supply chain and the wider and more encompassing, even asymmetrically so, any conflicts gets the more and more it would be felt in the world. And likely felt in ways we don't even think of.

Sitting in the US, I even have the thought that the country and military has been prepped to fail or lose in such a conflict, since so much insanity and fragility has been created in so many areas. We will see and all one can do is prep a bit and pay attention. OSIT.

 

[Magnolia]

Fertilizer plant in North Carolina on fire. Blaze rips through plant storing 100s of tons of explosives (VIDEOS)
Blaze rips through plant storing 100s of tons of explosives (VIDEOS)

 

[iscreamsandwish]

Last month, the Federal Reserve released a much-anticipated paper, laying out the advantages and disadvantages of a digital currency.

The Fed says it's a first step, meant to kickstart an important conversation among policymakers and to gather feedback, from average people to some of the country's largest financial institutions.

Cybersecurity is another critical issue, especially given the uptick in hacks and heists at cryptocurrency exchanges for example.

To implement a digital dollar, the U.S. government would need to modernize the country's financial infrastructure to stave off attacks.
Another argument for creating a digital dollar is to open up digital transactions to Americans who don't have bank accounts. According to the Fed, more than 5% of U.S. households are "unbanked."

Providing them with a digital wallet would allow people to participate in our increasingly cashless financial system.

It would also make it easier for the federal government to distribute benefits to poorer Americans.


So what's next?
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues are moving ahead cautiously and methodically.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston is also expected to release the results of its research into the technological challenges associated with implementing a CBDC in the U.S.

It would take five-to-ten years to introduce a digital currency in the U.S., several experts say, but they argue policymakers can't sit idly by.

 

[Alma.Innovadora]

Here, prices are going up. But John Keel was saying the same thing in the 80s.

Yes and how interesting it would be to have a dated map with all these events that would allow us to see a single timeline. It's a good review, all things that are linked together.

How is it looking where you are as well as across the wider horizon?

While in the U.S. and in the world confidence in the dollar is being lost and the negative impact it will have around the corner due to hyperinflation, in my country the placebo of having "greenbacks" (dollars) provides some economic relief as long as there is a constant inflow of such currency through the formal and informal economy, the boom in entrepreneurship, etc. A relief that ironically is backed by the continued desperation of as much fiat money as it is possible to print. There is no confidence in our currency because it is dead and relies on another dying currency for its hyperinflation, what madness!

As exaggerated as it may seem, as long as people have enough to buy a cell phone, they will feel good, it is the placebo, I mean, the false illusion that the country is doing well because of how much materialism you can acquire. Protests have dropped significantly but out of indifference not because things are fine as pompously publicized in the news. A country that depends on the instability of another country as they have the false belief that inflation is good by increasing the value of money but fail to see the connection in rising prices and the ramifications of not having a stable economy. With politicians who only blame others instead of being aware of their bad internal decisions. They say" we are wrong but it is better for the right to have power " is like choosing the kind of misery that is best to live.

 

[PopHistorian]

I posted in this thread one month ago. It's worse now in my corner of the U.S. In my neighborhood supermarket, I walk by glass-door refrigerator cases and, due to lack of stock, see directly into the refrigerator room behind. I was in a Trader Joe's market recently for the first time in over a month, and it was an eye-popping difference since then. Their stock is almost entirely alternative, not the national brands found everywhere, and it looked like they were down to about one fourth of normal inventory. Shelf products were dummied up to fill empty space, and freezer cases required reaching down to very bottom. The cashiers appear to be required to ask every customer, "Find everything you need?" Must be a strain to do that now.

We also have snow storms (each hyped by local media for maximum advertising-revenue gain), prior to which the unprepared routinely descend upon markets to buy up fresh food items. This exacerbates the situation very visibly.

 

[Magnolia]

"Systems Issue" Knocks Out Trucking Giant Schneider National's Computer Network​

Exclusive: ‘Systems issue’ knocks out Schneider National’s computer network
Sources told FreightWaves early Friday that an ongoing computer systems outage has left the trucking company unable to receive or book freight, update its invoicing system or pay its carriers.........No date was given for when its computer systems would be operational again.
Oh dear. Another brick in the wall?

 

[mxwlll0]

So I'd say keep a close eye on Ukraine and Russia-US relations over the next few weeks, and also the 'emerging' threat of a major 'cyber attack on the supply chain', which the EU are planning to run a 6 week exercise on later this month.

How about two significant events on the same day? Both situations sure to have ongoing developments…

Global logistics giant Expeditors suffers cyberattack, shuts down operations systems​

Logistics giant Expeditors International has shut down most of its operations systems after being targeted in a ransomware attack, the company said.

The effects on the Seattle-based company’s operations have been widespread.

“While our systems are shut down we will have limited ability to conduct operations, including but not limited to arranging for shipments of freight or managing customs and distribution activities for our customers’ shipments,” Expeditors said in a statement Sunday.

The company said it was investigating the attack as it worked to restore its systems. It did not give an estimate when normal operations might resume.

Expeditors (NASDAQ:EXPD) has more than 18,000 employees across 100 countries, providing logistics and customs services for airfreight and ocean shipping. The company brought in $4.3 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter.

The company warned that the cyberattack “could have a material adverse impact on our business, revenues, results of operations and reputation.”


The incident represents one of the significant cyberattacks on a U.S. logistics provider in recent memory. Expeditors did not say whether the incident was the result of ransomware.

Intel 471, a cybercrime intelligence firm, warned in a November report that cybercriminals had been trying to sell network access of multiple transportation, logistics and shipping companies. Cybercriminals could use network access to stage ransomware attacks that could disrupt the global supply chain.

In December, Germany-based Hellman Worldwide was hit in a ransomware attack. The company subsequently warned its partners and customers that they could be targeted by scammers.

Global logistics giant Expeditors suffers cyberattack, shuts down operations systems

Global logistics provider Expeditors International shut down most of its operations systems after a cyberattack, limiting the ability to book shipments.

freightwaves.com

 

[DianaRose]

I posted in this thread one month ago. It's worse now in my corner of the U.S. In my neighborhood supermarket, I walk by glass-door refrigerator cases and, due to lack of stock, see directly into the refrigerator room behind. I was in a Trader Joe's market recently for the first time in over a month, and it was an eye-popping difference since then. Their stock is almost entirely alternative, not the national brands found everywhere, and it looked like they were down to about one fourth of normal inventory. Shelf products were dummied up to fill empty space, and freezer cases required reaching down to very bottom. The cashiers appear to be required to ask every customer, "Find everything you need?" Must be a strain to do that now.

We also have snow storms (each hyped by local media for maximum advertising-revenue gain), prior to which the unprepared routinely descend upon markets to buy up fresh food items. This exacerbates the situation very visibly.

That's always interesting to hear people's perspective and situation. Here in the UK (or perhaps only around my area), supermarkets are still well-stocked although there are signs that supply isn't the same as before the "pandemic". However, it's not to the point where if you don't care about it, you'll notice it. Prices have hiked up a little though. But this had been ongoing for a long while.