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When
I was in high school I used to be bored
to death with our Economics teachers.
Thankfully I paid just enough attention
to not only pass the subject and get a
decent grade, but also to actually
remember years later the stuffs that
made staying awake in class so darn
difficult. Nowadays I can't imagine
myself successfully planning menus and
coming up with effective cost and income
strategies had I not studied a subject
that I once thought of as a complete
waste of time. It is also useful when
trying to understand and predict the
outcome of events thousands of miles
away from my kitchen.
A
couple of weeks ago I told one of my
colleagues that she better stock up on
beef and chicken because their prices
are about to go up. At first she didn't
believe me but today she said "How the
heck did you know that?" I replied, "Dead
swans and a packaging stuff up in
New York." She gave me that look,
probably thinking that I'm full of crap.
Hehehe!
People are freaking out in Asia and
Europe because of dead swans. It's on
the news everywhere. And that stuff up
in New York... it's about the Japanese
getting something extra when they
received their meat delivery from the
US, thus reinstating the ban that they
lifted just before January. It's a bit
of a paradox though... Japan being so
squeamish about buying red meat because
they're desperately trying to avoid mad
cow disease while at the same time being
allegedly the foremost producer and
exporter of used schoolgirl underwear
(I'd rather not put a link! Alex' photo
on
Lee's website says it all.). Eeew!
Anyway, going back to Economics... the
countries where they found dead swans or
birds with the avian virus cannot sell
poultry 'coz it's too risky. The
American beef producers who had to beg
through their noses to get the ban
lifted are very likely shaking their
heads in disbelief because of the
utterly careless stuff up that
consequently resulted in the
reinstatement of the ban. So Japan
needed a new beef supplier, and the
demand for risk free poultry all over
the world has reached astronomical
proportions. Australia is a consistently
good producer of both. Aussie suppliers
are of course going to take into
consideration the enormous demand
overseas and thus raising the prices of
their products sold locally. It all
boils down to the basic law of supply
and demand. It's a domino effect on a
global scale!
Since we're talking about the high
demand on meat... the
Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is just a
few days away. (Nice transition of
topic. Hehehe!) Different people have a
different opinion about it. Some say
it's a disgrace, while others applaud
it. I think it's good because it makes a
statement that Sydney is a free and open
city. It basically disproves the
misconception that Australia is
predominantly racist and discriminative.
An utterly wrong view fueled by events
like
this.
What do you folks think? :)
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