What’s your breaking point? It’s a question I’ve begun asking on-air. We get some excited callers from time to time and they’re in a revolutionary mood. I’ve replied that comfortable people don’t revolt. It’s a nasty, disruptive, and often bloody business. There is no guarantee you’ll get a better outcome than the present. I bring this up now because, with raging inflation, comfort could quickly become a thing of the past.
Wheat Costs are Soaring
I cited the cost of wheat during an episode of Magic Valley This Morning. Wheat has been a staple of civilization for millennia. I know people who eat only a limited amount of bread but their numbers are limited. Most people eat bread every day and the western world’s majority faith even prays for the ration.
What would happen if bread suddenly cost 50 dollars a loaf?
Hungry people are Often Angry People
Revolutions historically arise from scattered bread riots (ours being an exception). They then grow and the government finds itself playing whack-a-mole. If the troops are also hungry, things can then get really ugly for the ruling class.
Good government responds quickly. Ours currently appears to be tone-deaf. It’s as if the President and Congress have separate priorities.
I’ve Never Been Hungry
I’ve been comfortable all my life. I had to eat some boxed macaroni and cheese along the way but have never had even one full day of my life where I went without food. There are hungry Americans but the numbers have always been so small they’ve mostly been off the public radar. 1932 was an exception and we were pretty darn close to a wholesale change in our style of government. War veterans were violently removed from the National Mall. The government ended up greatly expanding. We’re still living with those changes today, however. The government has grown so large and isolated, it can’t hear the anger billowing across the land.
LOOK: Food history from the year you were born
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