Re: The Y2K problem

["Zoe.Young" <Zoe.Young@geo.hull.ac.uk>]

On Wed, 13 Jan 1999 02:14:19, -0500 MS SHELLEY V CORBIN 
<CMBH71C@prodigy.com> wrote:

> i have thought along these same lines, the feds pay farmers not to 
> grow food, pressure should be put on them to pay all farmers 
> availiable to grow extra food, classes should be available for folks 
> to learn how to process their own food. there is no reason why this 
> cant happen.
> 
> Local govts. should be asked to bring grains from the 
silos across
> America where they often rot every year and store them in accessible
> places for neighborhoods in your city.
> 
this is all very well, but isn't it slightly ignoring 
current economics and politics? and the simple fact that 
wherever in the world it happens, food scarcity is almost 
always  because some people can't afford to pay for what 
they need, (Ethiopia in the mid 1980s was a net grain 
exporter) and even when free food is distributed, some 
people are deemed not to deserve it?

I always remeber a bumper sticker I read in the USA:

'the best way to get back on your feet is to get off your 
arse.'

not at all wishing to tar all americans with the same 
brush, (nor to say that some are not quite lazy..) surely 
the cultural dominance of extreme ignorant rightwing 
assumptions like this needs to be challenged before or at 
least when proposing nice neighborhood distribution 
arrangements? 

maybe San Fransisco is full of right-on community minded 
people - but I can just imagine the mess in for example 
Washington DC if the city's workers and inhabitants were 
expected to share any more of the means of survival on an 
equitable basis...

yours cynically but still hopeful,

zoe



Dept. of Geography
University of Hull
Hull, E. Yorks, UK
tel: 00 44 1482 465334 
fax: 00 44 1482 466340
zoe.young@geo.hull.ac.uk