coincidence? I think not

[melm00se]

Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Jordan.

Other than rioting/protesting, what do these countries have in common?

Well one thing for sure: their people pay among the highest % of income on food.

Tunisia: 35.8% (17th highest)
Egypt: 38.3% (14th highest)
Jordan: 40.8% (9th highest)
Algeria: 43.8% (6th highest)

Other countries in the top 20:

Kazakhstan......35.4
Guatemala.......35.6
Uzbekistan......35.7
India...........35.8
Philippines.....37.0
Cameroon........38.5
Vietnam.........38.5
Nigeria.........40.1
Morocco.........40.3
Georgia.........42.1
Ukraine.........42.2
Belarus.........44.0
Indonesia.......44.1
Kenya...........44.9
Pakistan........45.6
Azerbaijan......48.5

Are these countries flash points too, especially if you add in upward pricing pressure on food and an oppressive (appearance or reality) government?

(source: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/international_statistics.html)

[notadmblnd]

1. I think unemployment has a lot to do with it to

and that maybe, just maybe our leaders should pay attention to what happens when enough people have no jobs and can't afford to eat.

[KharmaTrain]

3. It's About Basic Survival

In Egypt the unemployment rate is over 30%...especially high among the young (not a good thing in a country where the average age is 23). The game in many dictatorships is to create their own "welfare state" using food as a weapon. This is why you're seeing the "pro-Mubarak" goons out there...people who are paid as little as a chicken dinner but who are part of the nearly 1.6 million in Eygpt who are "party" members and enjoy the perks that others don't. Quinnicential class warfare on a level we don't see here and long embedded in their culture. A hard cycle to break.

[notadmblnd]

4. I was just watching the interview with Anderson Cooper and the

journalist that worked for Nile TV that quit and it's exactly what she said. It was the young, unemployed and hungry that organized this, not any "MuSlim Brotherhood".
She also said that she never believed that the people of Egypt would do anything like this because she perceived them to be apathetic.

So, to me it shows that there is a breaking point and that our leaders should reading the writing on the wall.

[KharmaTrain]

6. Let's Hope We Don't Get To That Level...

While things are bad here and for too many they won't see an improvement any time soon, I'm not seeing people lining up for food or price spikes like they've experienced in Egypt over the past year. Most people in this country are so wrapped up into their own worlds they don't see a bigger picture...trying to pay the bills and not get too far underwater. The suffering here is silent and varies among age and economic groups. I see a nation too self-absorbed in their own needs to work in such a large-scale movement like we're seeing in Egypt. Just look at how divided a place like this can get...trying to organize is like herding cats.

The only writing on the wall this administration is seeing is a quick way to get Mubarak out and quiet things down...hope for the best in Suleman and onto the next crisis.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Monster historic storm slams 1/2 USA; Katrina-sized cyclone slams Australia

Coincidence?

[rucky]

5. I see your coincidence and raise you...

http://www.wdm.org.uk/food-speculation/great-hunger-lottery">The great hunger lottery - How banking speculation causes food crises

[Disintermedia8]

7. It was done just for fun a couple years ago by

when the banksters spiked world food prices. Failure of leadership is knowing what the problem is. Knowing what the solution is. And doing nothing.