Is the rising price of food and fuel inevitable?

Question

There are more people in the world than ever before. That number is increasing, especially in third world countries.

More people are using cars. There is only a limited supply of oil for the next few decades.

So realistically, what can the world do to control food and oil costs, if anything? The demand for these things is becoming greater than the supply.

Answer 1

they are inevitable for however long we permit the Fed to manipulate the economy, which is now causing near-hyperinflation by it's expansion of the money supply.

The congress could correct that with a very simple amendment, but we're not seeing any impetus for that to happen.  The consequence can only be disastrous for the populace.  What is truly inevitable is the chaos which follows any manipulation of the free market and supply and demand by government.

Answer 2

Is this a real question or an invitation to debate?

But in any case, the way to do this is to exploit other sources of energy, of which there are many not yet exploited. There are also quite a lot of blind alleys, of which the worst two are in my opinion wind power and ground-based solar. This is because of the terrible power density and unreliable nature of both.

What sources? Let's try a few. Nuclear - there are designs that are intrinsically safe, and as for the waste the easiest solution is to vitrify the stuff and drop it in an oceanic trench. Ocean Thermal. Fusion; not the Tokamak variety (that's another blind alley) but something like Polywell. Biofuels - using oil-producing algae or cellulose, not making fuel out of food. Thermal depolymerisation; which can make usable fuel out of all sorts of otherwise useless waste. Methane digesters. And the biggest one of all, in my humble opinion; space solar power (SPS) which was first described in the early 1980s, for Heaven's sake!

Once you have energy you can make automotive fuel. It's not even difficult. And once energy is available, the West is less dependent on unstable theocracies for something essential, too; which has to be a good thing.

Answer 3

Future demand for Food and Fuel will be determined by population growth, and life-style.  The ability to meet that future demand, is the major geo-political question of our time!

At some point population will peak and decline- probably because famine, natural or man-made, will lead to mass-starvation.  That is almost certain- it is nature's way!  Meantime, food can be expected to increase in price, as demand increases.

Oil is a scarce resource- in the sense that it is finite.  But despite growing demand, there is no immediate shortage.  True, prices have risen recently, but that is due to "sentiment" on world markets- not to actual deficiency in supply, or to excessive demand.  The world economy is entering a period of slow-down, and when that bites, prices will fall back.

Ultimately, prices of Food and Fuel cannot be controlled- they will in free markets, find their own levels.  What is distorting demand in certain countries, is the use of subsidies.  While these are designed to keep prices down, ultimately, since they discourage any increase in supply, they are negative and unhelpful.

In terms of future supplies, Energy has options- beyond Oil.  Over time, these can and will be successfully exploited.

Regarding Food, options are far less rosy.  No doubt technical advances will be made in agriculture, but food production depends on more than this; growing conditions are as important as the crops grown!  

And that depends largely on Climate- which is the great unknown at the present time!  We know we are entering a period of Climatic Change- but whether it warms or cools, growing conditions will become more hostile, and yields reduced.  With the anticipated population growth, this seems likely to cause extreme pressure on food supplies for the foreseeable future.  Unless population stabilises, the prospects are not good!

Whether we can, or cannot, overcome these problems over Food and Fuel, one thing is certain- we're in for bumpy ride!

Answer 4

The cost of just about everything is relative to the cost of fuel.

Oil is a non replaceable natural resource when we compare it to planting a tree and to introduce an immediate fuel alternative would cause an economic catastrophe. This alternative fuel will be developed some day and gradually  introduced into the system. The oil company's know this and are exploiting the American public during this interim. Boycotting the oil company's would have little or no affect on the price of fuel because they have already made so much money and would be able to absorb any volume decrease. So, we're caught between a rock and a hard place and really don't have any choice but to change our spending/driving habits, down size to more economical cars/trucks, learn to be more frugal and ride it out. Should the Gov. intervene and apply restrictions to the oil company's, their recourse will be to cut back further on production and continue with the on going false supply/demand explanation to keep the prices up.

Because transitions are always very costly, I would say that the rising costs for food and fuel are inevitable.