September 30, 2007 (LPAC)--From yesterday's New York Times:

Food bought for the U.S. food aid program has fallen to 2.4 million metric tons this year, compared to 4 million tons in 2005 and 5.3 million tons in 2000. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the number of people being fed by U.S. food aid programs has fallen to 70 million in 2006 from 105 million in 2002. The drop in aid is attributed both to the soaring costs of buying food and skyrocketing costs for shipping it. Poor countries that depend on imported grains are also seeing their costs rise. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization reports that most such countries will see the amounts they pay for imports increase by 14%. The FAO also reports that shrunken food stocks means less ability to absorb price shocks.

While the price increases are attributed, in part, to the demand for corn for ethanol, the Times does not report on the cartelization of food production and distribution, or the collapse of the financial system, which is leading central banks to pump liquidity into the system in a futile attempt to bail out the hedge funds, as the factors behind the hyperinflating process.