Despite these achievements, the system by which Fair Trade USA hopes to achieve its ends is seriously flawed, limiting both its market potential and the benefits it provides growers and workers. Among the concerns are that the premiums paid by consumers are not going directly to farmers, the quality of Fair Trade coffee is uneven, and the model is technologically outdated. This article will examine why, over the past 20 years, Fair Trade coffee has evolved from an economic and social justice movement to largely a marketing model for ethical consumerism—and why the model persists regardless of its limitations.

The Problem with Fair Trade Coffee. Good read.

Impacts from drought are, sorry, the Obama administration’s fault. Higher food prices were predictable by the USDA via (in the least) the CPI and the weather markets. As a result, food and fuel prices will go up this fall, possibly dampening the economy. Ironically, conservatives can’t jump on this massive failure because doing so would admit that the government plays a role in controlling markets. What a CF.

planetmoney:

Food in the U.S. has become much, much cheaper. 

For more graphics and information on our spending on groceries, go here. 

(via kiplinger)

High gas prices must be forcing Americans to cut back in other ways, right? That’s what the economists Lutz Kilian at the University of Michigan and Paul Edelstein of the consulting firm IHS Global Insight wondered. They looked at personal spending habits during periods of high energy prices and discovered that “somewhat surprisingly, there is no significant decline in total expenditures on recreation,” which was one place they expected to find frugality. More specifically, rising gas prices had “no significant effect on the consumption of movies, bowling and billiard[s], casino gambling and only insignificant declines for recreational camps, sightseeing, spectator sports and spectator amusements.” Some people bought fewer lottery tickets, they told me.

In other words, Americans may protest loudly, but their economic behavior indicates a remarkable indifference to the price of oil.

“The Real Oil Shock: Rising Gas Prices Don’t Actually Affect Americans’ Behavior” NY Times.

'In 2008 and in 2011, the world was rocked by riots and by revolutions coinciding with spikes in food prices. Now researchers are projecting that by 2013, food prices will soar to unparalleled heights, causing widespread hunger in the most vulnerable populations and social unrest, with an enormous potential for loss of human life.' ›

Fair Trade has a tumblr! ›

U.S. plans to release 30 million barrels of oil from reserves ›