Food Summit Opens With Censure of Greed, Speculation
By Karl Maier and Jeffrey DonovanNov. 16 (Bloomberg) — A United Nations summit on food security opened with leaders slamming rich nations for worsening world hunger by allowing speculation in agricultural markets and using subsidies that hurt production in developing nations.
Pope Benedict XVI cited “greed which causes speculation to rear its head even in the marketing of cereals, as if food were to be treated just like any other commodity.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who called hunger “the most terrible weapon of mass destruction,” urged rich nations to meet their commitments to boost investment in agricultural in poor nations and to end “shameful” farming subsidies.
“They sabotage emerging agriculture in the poorer countries, wiping out their hope to create a bridge to development,” Lula said.
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Whither the American right wing? On April 13, in an essay on Cato Unbound, Paypal founder Peter Thiel declared that he rejects democracy:
“I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” Why is democracy incompatible with freedom? According to Thiel, one problem with democracy is that women have the right to vote: “Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women — two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians — have rendered the notion of ‘capitalist democracy’ into an oxymoron.”
What could more beautifully illustrate the pubescent male nerd mentality of the libertarian than Thiel’s combination of misogyny with the denial of aging and death? [Thiel founded something called the Methuselah Foundation, which seeks to end aging and make everyone immortal.]
Also a worthy article for delving into the concept of seasteading, where people who want to secede from a currently existing nation-state build modular floating cities.
… the unique nature of the fluid ocean surface means that cities can be built in a modular fashion where entire buildings can be detached and floated away. This unprecedented physical mobility will give us the ability to leave a country without leaving our home, increasing competition between governments.”
