Are you scared yet? . . .Why not?

Downsized: Global financial assets (stocks, bonds, used bikes...) lost at least $50 trillion in 2008, an amount equal to an entire year's global output in goods and services.

Thought Experiment: The current economic crisis seems intractable, with no easy solution in view. Think how much harder solving the economic crisis will be after the global food system collapses; for food is but petroleum converted to carbohydrates, protein and fat through the catalytic application of credit.

Food crisis hits developing world farms

Farmers in developing countries are struggling despite recent rises in the price of commodities they produce, the Fairtrade Foundation says in a new report. The report, which interviewed farmers' groups in Uganda, Malawi, Nicaragua, India, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean, reveals that many families are spending up to 80% of their entire household budget on basic food items. The rocketing cost of food, fuel and fertiliser prices have had a devastating effect on their livelihoods. In some cases, families have been forced to cut out meals, take children out of school and reduce the amount of land they plant, the report says. Some farmers have even sold their land because they can no longer afford to farm it or buy fertilisers to keep up production.