Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World

Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing.

Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

This a news story many people out there would never expect to see.

It's also one I wouldn't expect to have made it out just yet. But I saw it on the TV news before I came across a link to the above article, so it has made it into the mainstream. Which is more than I can say for some other stories that have been done much better by the BBC than any news outlet I've seen here.

There's no question that our economy is in deep, deep trouble. There's also no question that that our economic problems are having quite the negative impact on the global economy.

The only real question is: How bad is it going to get before it gets better?

Thankfully, we're still much better off than a lot of other nations (like Haiti where people are eating dirt). That just means we've got a little more buffer space to try to make things right.