Re: SOS from Zhitomyr
Posted: Sat 28 Jun 2014, 12:15:05
I'm just reminding you that famine is not prevented by an exportable surplus. More than a few thousands of people have starved to death in this world while their nation grew more than enough food to feed them and still have some to sell abroad.
Economics are not 'a' concern. It is THE concern. IF they can double again the price the good wife is paying for flour, without doubling her wages, AND not have food riots, they can fill the shelves and become a regular, bountiful market economy. If that fails, either as a result of civil food protests over price, or civil war with the East, or a failure in the privatization methods to keep the farmlands managed by people who know what the heck they are doing, then famine is not only possible, its likely. Even while Ukraine continues to export huge amounts of grain.
nb: Ukraine's grain exports are substantially below Russia's; and amount to about a fifth of what the US exports; just to give some scale... Varies from year to year, I found some charts that were about a 1/4 and some that were about an 1/8, and several in between.
Economics are not 'a' concern. It is THE concern. IF they can double again the price the good wife is paying for flour, without doubling her wages, AND not have food riots, they can fill the shelves and become a regular, bountiful market economy. If that fails, either as a result of civil food protests over price, or civil war with the East, or a failure in the privatization methods to keep the farmlands managed by people who know what the heck they are doing, then famine is not only possible, its likely. Even while Ukraine continues to export huge amounts of grain.
nb: Ukraine's grain exports are substantially below Russia's; and amount to about a fifth of what the US exports; just to give some scale... Varies from year to year, I found some charts that were about a 1/4 and some that were about an 1/8, and several in between.