Rice Shrice

Late last week when I started seeing all these headlines about the impending food shortages, I admit, I was a bit....confused. How can there be a shortage of rice? It's seems pretty available. And while yes, the price of a 10kg bag of flour has increased a couple of bucks in the last year, it's not really breaking my bankbook yet. So what is with all the hype? The papers sternly warn, consumers will be paying 50-100% more for wheat and rice products. So my bread now costs me $6 instead of $3. Yes, while it sucks, again not something that will make me stop eating bread. Who this affects is the people in countries who have $10/month to feed a family, when they are making $20/month. These are the people who need help. I don't really think anyone here in North America, or other developed countries can complain about food costs when we will pay $200 for a handbag or $100 for a pair of jeans. I am getting my hair cut and colored tomorrow, it will cost me around $100, complaining about $5 bread seems a bit ludicrous in complarison. Seriously, when my kid has so many clothes she outgrows them before wearing them twice, I should be willing to pay $10 for a bag of rice that could feed my family for a couple weeks (if god forbid that is all we had to eat). Did you drink a Starbuck's latte this week? Well next time you think about it, go buy a loaf of bread instead.
Secondly, don't you think there is something wrong with the headlines declaring a food crisis when everyday, the Costco my sister works for fills DUMPSTERS full of food because the PACKAGING is damaged!! They will dispose of cereal, crackers, cookies, and snacks because the outer cardboard is sliced, the inner bag that actually holds the food is still intact. Why? It doesn't look pretty on the shelves. And not only is thrown out, an employee would be fired if they were found taking the RTV's (Return to vendor; also known as write it down and throw it in the dumpster) home. And this is just the tip of the ice berg in food wastage, this much I know for sure. So I am sorry, I can't buy into the whining about the price of things like flour, rice, and produce when there exists this kind of lunacy in our world. And another reason why not, when we will go to a resaurant and pay up to $100-150 for dinner for 2 at a nice restaurant, really, we have NO RIGHT to whine. This really burns my butt, because if we really want to complain, let's be reasonable...it's supposed to snow tomorrow on the last day of April.