on the altar of equity & diversity

We don't have vast, expansive water areas around here, except for Lake Redman, Lake Williams and the York Reservoir. WTH are we getting "Small Craft Advisories" for the Chesapeake Bay, way up here? That one's 40 miles south. Idiots. But we did have some serious wind.

The snow/sleet started on my trip to Rite Aid, around 2p, and continued heavily, until well after midnight. The ground is well-saturated, and I'm glad I fertilized with Espoma®'s Holly Tone®, just two days ago. If you haven't yet, do it.

Sherry stopped by to visit, and give me some nice kisses and hugs. I needed and enjoyed every one of those. We had a great time, as usual, and I was sorry to see her leave at 5p. I had dinner, watched the news and the two Fox News programs I always watch -- "Jesse Watters" and "Tucker Carlson" -- and switched-over to "Gold Rush" for more missed Season 4 episodes. Lights out at 1:15a.

I slept-in until 9:30a on Saturday, a cloudy 43° day, but no more rain after the 2"+ we got last evening. I shouldn't have stayed-up so late. After breakfast, my pill regimen, and lots of coffee, I had an errand to downtown York, so I took 2 extra magazines along for my daily CCW carry 2009 Kimber® 1911 "Eclipse Target II" .45cal ACP, just in case. The errand was a bust; the shop didn't work on the high-end Dyson® products anymore, so I had to get in touch with Dyson® Repair Service, get a Return Authorization Number and paperwork, and UPS it back to them. Back home by 12:30p, I got the RAUN (Return Authorization Number), and took it to a local UPS store to get it mailed. Blah.

"zip-a-dee-doo-dah" -- originated in the 1946 film 'Song of the South' -- is racial and Disney had removed it from their parade songs, for bullshit "racial" reasons? F•CK RACIAL SHIT! DEAL WITH IT, YOU MENTALLY-ILL ASSHOLES! Well, f•ck-a-duck, Disney. zip-a-dee-doo-dah... zip-a-dee-doo-dah... zip-a-dee-doo-dah... zip-a-dee-doo-dah... zip-a-dee-doo-dah... zip-a-dee-doo-dah... zip-a-dee-doo-dah! F•ck you to death, Disney lowlife faggot scumbags!

I watched some of the TRASHCAR® xfinity® 300 mile race at Las Vegas, but was salivating at the coming F-1 Bahrain GP, and the IndyCar Race at St Petersburg, FL, tomorrow. After a few dozen laps and an accident -- that's what I watch TRASHCAR for -- I tried to grab a couple hour snooze on the LR couch, but couldn't; only 30mins. A nice 48° outside, but I was done for the day errands. I had dinner, watched the usual Fox News crap, and some more unseen old episodes of "Gold Rush". Lights out at 11:30p; F-1 on at 10a, tomorrow.

Awake at 7:30a on Sunday morning, it was a cold, but bright and sunny 29° morning outside. I fired-up the furnace, the garage heater, had coffee and scanned the news and weather forecast. I got ready for the day and 2023's first F-1 GP Race, at 10a, from Bahrain (wherever the hell that is). It was a great race, but with high mechanical attrition. The IndyCar Race from St Petersburg was also a great race, with almost 20% of the cars out due to crashes on the city's street road course. Lastly, the TRASHCAR Cup Series Race at Las Vegas was on, and I watched until after it got dark, around 6:15p. 267 laps of left-hand turns is north-of-boring, so I did paperwork and got the garbage and recyclables out to the curb, for tomorrow's p/u.

Nice to see it staying lighter, later; it means Spring isn't that far away, despite the cold temps. Since it was near 60° -- within RoundUp®'s 52-85° window-of-use -- I used the foam-setting and sprayed weeds in the front garden; might work, might not. After dinner, I watched the news, some Fox talk show programs, and called it an early night at 10:30. Busy day of delayed errands, tomorrow.

Awake at 8:30a on Monday, it was another bright, sunny and cold 39° start, and I felt very groggy, so I knew it would take a while to get going. I upped the heat, made coffee, scanned the news and weather on my office-sunroom computer. After tuning into the "CP Show", I kept recharging the 3 electric 4ft x 9ft electric blinds in my office, a job partially leftover from last evening. All I heard on the news was people "apologizing for remarks", to overly-sensitive scumbag leftist filth, who take offense at everything. Hey, f•ck you, leftist assholes! I mean you offense; all of you punk scum! Come get me; I dare you!

I checked my day's to-do list: bank deposit, pharmacy, cleaners, p/u some Half & Half at Rutter's, and relax this afternoon. A lot of running around. All that done, I headed to the LR couch for a 3hr snooze. After a light dinner, I did the usual Fox News, 2 Fox Guys' Opinion shows, and more missed, early Seasons of "Gold Rush". Since I have JoAnne, my cleaning lady, in at 8:30a tomorrow, I bagged it at 11p.

Up at Zero-Dark-Thirty -- 6a on Tuesday -- since my cleaning lady would be here at 8:30, I upped the heat, made coffee and had a few smokes in the garage. It didn't feel like 35° outside, somehow, but the lake effect snow cells hit us around 8:15. I like snow! By 8:30, it was over, with no accumulation, and the sun was out. Dammit.

I'm meeting Sherry at 1p, at the humongous York Galleria, to do our usual 1x-2x/ week walking routine, and despite my sometimes excruciating hips' pain from my daily dose of Atorvastatin (Lipitor®), I always look forward to it.

The day's "forecast" was for mid-50s, but with 25-35mph wind and temps in the mid-30s, it felt much colder. Even so, the Japanese-bred Okame Cherries were in full bloom, all over the York County area. We had a nice walk around the Galleria, and my lower back/hips were hurting, but we walked thru most of the niggling pain. From my research, I'm finding that Lipitor (Atorvastatin) is causing the pain, not arthritis or muscular injury. I'm on 80mg/ day of that statin (Lipitor), and my 3 Cardiologists tell me "just deal with it". So I will.

Sherry and I went back to my place, for a couple hours, to talk and get/give some hugs and kisses. She had errands to do, and left around 5. I made Chicken Cordon Bleu & Green Beans, for dinner, watched the news, the "2 Fox News Guys", and more episodes of "American Pickers" and "Gold Rush". Tired from a long day, with no nap, I unplugged at 11p. Tomorrow's another busy day.

Up at 8:30a on Wednesday, I got the condo warmed-up, coffee made, garage warmed-up, had a few smokes and tuned into the "CP Show" until 10. Time to go food shopping at Weis Market. I left 1t 10. Thru that task, I was back home by 11, unloaded and put away 5 bags of groceries, and left to meet a former friend/ employee (12yrs) working 10+ miles away, to present him a gift: my personal set of #654 of 1750 Felco #8 Pruners 60th Anniversary Edition, with Certificate of Authenticity from 2005, easily worth $1,500 now. That done, I had 2 more stops on the way home and was back by 1p.

I've been watching Tucker Carlson's Show, with the unedited (by criminal demonKKKrats) 40,000hrs of Jan 6th Videos, showing a peaceful group of Trump People inside the Capitol Building, while a few dozen scumbags were rioting outside. The ones inside didn't do any damage; the outside assholes were egged-on by undercover FBI Agents. Have you watched it? Some was violent; most was peaceful. The criminal demonKKKrats selectively edited the crap out of all that film to make the Trumpers look real bad, and the corrupt DNC-Media -- but I repeat myself -- obediently cooperated. Their lies are the truth, and facts are lies. Endless verbal diarrhea. If you disagree, you will be jailed, reprogrammed, shunned, sued, defamed, or killed. Bastard leftist filth.

While listening to Bonehead Bongino, WMAL-DC, I did 2 loads of laundry, folded and put it all away. Sucks to be me. I also did my 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee HEMI V8 registration online, for PA. By the 15th, hopefully things will be back to "normal".

I'm working on a new Win-7 Pro x64 "Legacy" computer from NIXSYS, trying to find one model I want and can customize, to eventually replace my trusty 2009 HP Compaq 6000 Microtower, in my condo's office-sunroom. It runs fine, I tune-it-up, (and back-it-up weekly to a WD "My Book" HD) regularly with the paid versions of CCleaner Pro and Norton Utilities Ultimate, but is now getting long-in-the-tooth.

Looks like snow Friday/Saturday, with some accumulation. Who knows? After soup and a hot sandwich for dinner, I watched the usual "2 Fox Guys" (Watters and Carlson), and watched the new episode of "American Pickers", and some more old episodes of early "Gold Rush" seasons, and called it an early night at 11:30p.

Up at 8:30a on Thursday, to a sunny, cold 31°, I went thru the usual routines and scanned the news and weather forecast. I tuned into the "CP Show", and checked the day's to-do list. A pharmacy Rx p/u, fuel-up the Jeep w/ Ethanol-Free 90oct Premium, and a Therapeutic Massage at 1:30p. Same ol' crap in the "news", just a different take from yesterday's same ol' crap "news". The war in Ukraine is getting closer to involving CCP China, all of NATO and us, in ways we don't want to be involved.

I did the Rite Aid Rx trip, and fueled-up the Jeep for $94, for 20+gals, at $4.15/gal -- usually around $4.79/gal -- but prices are still dropping as Shit-For-Brains, Lunch Bucket Joey Bidet&Co depletes our SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserve), even further. America's at serious risk, now that the SPR is down to 35% of capacity. And at 43°, with 30-40mph wind, it felt like it was in the 20s, or colder. Hey, Winter's still here. We do set our clocks ahead this weekend, though, so we're getting closer to Spring, sort of.

I left at 1p, for my 1:30 TH app't, in South York. Heidi did her usual good job, on my R/S shoulder, instead of my lower back/hips, and was back home by 2:45p. I did a load of dishes, while I tried 3x to grabbed a snooze on the LR couch. Couldn't do it. I had dinner and some snacks, watched Fox News, the usual "2 Fox Guys", and ... more "Gold Rush". With nowhere to go, nothing to do tomorrow, and no one to do it with, I can sleep-in tomorrow morning and relax during the day. I unplugged at 11:30p.

Tomorrow starts a new week here in the "Journal", and it's almost a clear week, so maybe Sherry and I can get some more time together. We'll see.

The List of American Food Processing Plants That Have Been Destroyed From 1/11/21 To The Present.

The list of American food processing plants that have been destroyed from 1/11/21 to the present, but causes are NOT published; just the incidents.

1. 1/11/21 A fire that destroyed 75,000-square-foot processing plant in Fayetteville
2. 4/30/21 A fire ignited inside the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Monmouth, IL
3. 7/25/21 Three-alarm fire at Kellogg plant in Memphis, 170 emergency personnel responded to the call
4. 7/30/21 Firefighters on Friday battled a large fire at Tyson’s River Valley Ingredients plant in Hanceville, Alabama
5. 8/23/21 Fire crews were called to the Patak Meat Production company on Ewing Road in Austell
6. 9/13/21 A fire at the JBS beef plant in Grand Island, Neb., on Sunday night forced a halt to slaughter and fabrication lines
7. 10/13/21 A five-alarm fire ripped through the Darigold butter production plant in Caldwell, ID
8. 11/15/21 A woman is in custody following a fire at the Garrard County Food Pantry
9. 11/29/21 A fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. at the Maid-Rite Steak Company meat processing plant
10. 12/13/21 West Side food processing plant in San Antonio left with smoke damage after a fire
11. 1/7/22 Damage to a poultry processing plant on Hamilton’s Mountain following an overnight fire
12. 1/13/22 Firefighters worked for 12 hours to put a fire out at the Cargill-Nutrena plant in Lecompte, LA
13. 1/31/22 a fertilizer plant with 600 tons of ammonium nitrate inside caught on fire on Cherry Street in Winston-Salem
14. 2/3/22 A massive fire swept through Wisconsin River Meats in Mauston
15. 2/3/22 At least 130 cows were killed in a fire at Percy Farm in Stowe
16. 2/15/22 Bonanza Meat Company goes up in flames in El Paso, Texas
17. 2/15/22 Nearly a week after the fire destroyed most of the Shearer’s Foods plant in Hermiston
18. 2/16/22 A fire had broken at US largest soybean processing and biodiesel plant in Claypool, Indiana
19. 2/18/22 An early morning fire tore through the milk parlor at Bess View Farm
20. 2/19/22 Three people were injured, and one was hospitalized, after an ammonia leak at Lincoln Premium Poultry in Fremont
21. 2/22/22 The Shearer’s Foods plant in Hermiston caught fire after a propane boiler exploded
22. 2/28/22 A smoldering pile of sulfur quickly became a raging chemical fire at Nutrien Ag Solutions
23. 2/28/22 A man was hurt after a fire broke out at the Shadow Brook Farm and Dutch Girl Creamery
24. 3/4/22 294,800 chickens destroyed at farm in Stoddard, Missouri
25. 3/4/22 644,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland
26. 3/8/22 243,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in New Castle, Delaware
27. 3/10/22 663,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, MD
28. 3/10/22 915,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Taylor, IA
29. 3/14/22 The blaze at 244 Meadow Drive was discovered shortly after 5 p.m. by farm owner Wayne Hoover
30. 3/14/22 2,750,700 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Jefferson, Wisconsin
31. 3/16/22 A fire at a Walmart warehouse distribution center in Plainfield, Indiana has cast a large plume of smoke visible throughout Indianapolis.
32. 3/16/22 Nestle Food Plant extensively damaged in fire and new production destroyed Jonesboro, Arkansas
33. 3/17/22 5,347,500 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Buena Vista, Iowa
34. 3/17/22 147,600 chickens destroyed at farm in Kent, Delaware
35. 3/18/22 315,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland
36. 3/22/22 172,000 Turkeys destroyed on farms in South Dakota
37. 3/22/22 570,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Butler, Nebraska
38. 3/24/22 Fire fighters from numerous towns are battling a major fire at the McCrum potato processing facility in Belfast, Maine.
39. 3/24/22 418,500 chickens destroyed at farm in Butler, Nebraska
40. 3/25/22 250,300 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Franklin, Iowa
41. 3/26/22 311,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
42. 3/27/22 126,300 Turkeys destroyed in South Dakota
43. 3/28/22 1,460,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Guthrie, Iowa
44. 3/29/22 A massive fire burned 40,000 pounds of food meant to feed people in a food desert near Maricopa
45. 3/31/22 A structure fire caused significant damage to a large portion of key fresh onion packing facilities in south Texas
46. 3/31/22 76,400 Turkeys destroyed in Osceola, Iowa
47. 3/31/22 5,011,700 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Osceola, Iowa
48. 4/6/22 281,600 chickens destroyed at farm in Wayne, North Carolina
49. 4/9/22 76,400 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
50. 4/9/22 208,900 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
51. 4/12/22 89,700 chickens destroyed at farm in Wayne, North Carolina
52. 4/12/22 1,746,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Dixon, Nebraska
53. 4/12/22 259,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Minnesota
54. 4/13/22 Fire destroys East Conway Beef & Pork Meat Market in Conway, New Hampshire
55. 4/13/22 Plane crashes into Gem State Processing, Idaho potato and food processing plant
56. 4/13/22 77,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
57. 4/14/22 Taylor Farms Food Processing plant burns down Salinas, California.
58. 4/14/22 99,600 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
59. 4/15/22 1,380,500 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Lancaster, Minnesota
60. 4/19/22 Azure Standard nation’s premier independent distributor of organic and healthy food, was destroyed by fire in Dufur, Oregon
61. 4/19/22 339,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
62. 4/19/22 58,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Montrose, Color
63. 4/20/22 2,000,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Minnesota
64. 4/21/22 A small plane crashed in the lot of a General Mills plant in Covington, Georgia
65. 4/22/22 197,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
66. 4/23/22 200,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
67. 4/25/22 1,501,200 chickens destroyed at egg farm Cache, Utah
68. 4/26/22 307,400 chickens destroyed at farm Lancaster Pennsylvania
69. 4/27/22 2,118,000 chickens destroyed at farm Knox, Nebraska
70. 4/28/22 Egg-laying facility in Iowa kills 5.3 million chickens, fires 200-plus workers
71. 4/28/22 Allen Harim Foods processing plant killed nearly 2M chickens in Delaware
72. 4/2822 110,700 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
73. 4/29/22 5 million honeybees are dead after a flight carrying the pollinator insects from California to Alaska got diverted to Georgia (New)
74. 4/29/22 1,366,200 chickens destroyed at farm Weld Colorado
75. 4/30/22 13,800 chickens destroyed at farm Sequoia Oklahoma
76. 5/3/22 58,000 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
77. 5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Beadle S Dakota
78. 5/3/22 114,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
79. 5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Lyon Minnesota
80. 5/7/22 20,100 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
81. 5/10/22 72,300 chickens destroyed at farm Lancaster Pennsylvania
82. 5/10/22 61,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
83. 5/10/22 35,100 Turkeys destroyed Muskegon, Michigan
84. 5/13/22 10,500 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
85. 5/14/22 83,400 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
86. 5/17/22 79,00 chickens destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
87. 5/18/22 7,200 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
88. 5/19/22 Train carrying limestone derailed Jensen Beach FL
89. 5/21/22 57,000 Turkeys destroyed on farm in Dakota Minnesota
90. 5/23/22 4,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
91. 5/29/22 A Saturday night fire destroyed a poultry building at Forsman Farms in Howard Lake, Minnesota
92. 5/31/22 3,000,000 chickens destroyed by fire at Forsman facility in Stockholm Township, Minnesota
93. 6/2/22 30,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
94. 6/7/22 A fire occurred Tuesday evening at the JBS meat packing plant in Green Bay, Wisconsin
95. 6/8/22 Firefighters from Tangipahoa Fire District 1 respond to a fire at the Purina Feed Mill in Arcola, Louisiana
96. 6/9/22 Irrigation water was canceled in California (the #1 producer of food in the US) and storage water flushed directly out to the delta.
97. 6/12/22 Largest Pork Company in the US Shuts Down California Plant Due to High Costs
98. 6/13/22 Fire Breaks Out at a Food Processing Plant West of Waupaca County in Wisconsin
99. 6/14/22 Over 10,000 head of cattle have reportedly died in the recent Kansas heat wave
100. 6/23/22 George’s Inc.: Poultry and Prepared Foods announced it will close one of its food processing plants in Campbell County, Tennessee

The biggest thereat to America today is "White Supremacy". Right? Here is a list of White Supremacist attacks for 2022 to 2023: ZERO. Prove me wrong. That’s not the way things work. No one has to prove a negative.

Maybe it is a conspiracy by the vegetarians to destroy the livestock industry, or it could be a bunch of old buildings that are falling apart and should have been replaced before old age failures. The eco-freaks want the USA to be less prosperous. Eco-freaks and the Dims want American to use fewer resources and to be less wealthy. Therefore it makes sense to let it fall apart. And to forest fire the woods, and to destroy parts of the oil and natural gas industries, and to shut down manufacturing. The USA is like an A student. The eco-freaks and the Dims want the USA to be a C student like all the other societies. With lots of poverty, the USA will use poverty as an excuse to implement socialism and government control over the general population. Destroy and rebuild with the USSR and Communist China as the preferred method of government.

Tallys from NFPA website, 2015-2019. Fires - Industrial, Utility, Defense, Agriculture, Mining: 2,953 (738 per year). Fires -Manufacturing, processing: 5308. (1,327 per year). NFPA mentions that about 25% of fires are traceable to arson. The counts include way more than just food processing facilities, which makes them somewhat difficult to interpret as an answer to the question: "Are we under systemic attacks on our food supply". Actuaries could answer that question with high confidence, given access to the source data. No such data or analysis has been made public. We have heard bland reassurances from insurance company consultants that "100 incidents" is not an indicator when we have 5,300 fires per year. That could be true. My personal assessment is that there have been some opportunistic attacks by do-it-yourself Jihadis, or "Environmentalist" groups. They are not organized for repeating or sustaining those attacks and I am not sure there have been enough of them to move the indicator needles very much. Food processing facilities are filled with dangerous fire conditions that require a skilled and diligent workforce to keep under control. I believe that workforce skills and disciplines have been declining (especially since the COVID lockdowns) and are a factor in the increasing losses. The government does not appear to be investigating such matters at all.

How many were *arson*? I’m sure the investigators knew. They just didn’t tell anybody. Probably arson; prove it wrong.

© 3.25.2023 by Jim Hoft, "FR".

Just Preparing To Say Goodbye.

A message from Clint Eastwood My Twilight Years at 90.

"I’m Preparing to say goodbye. If you realize each day is a gift, you may be near my age. As I enjoy my twilight years, I am often struck by the inevitability that the party must end.

"There will come a clear, cold morning when there isn't any "more." No more hugs, no more special moments to celebrate together, no more phone calls just to chat. It seems to me that one of the important things to do before that morning comes, is to let everyone of your family and friends know that you care for them by finding simple ways to let them know your heartfelt beliefs and the guiding principles of your life so they can always say, "He was my friend, and I know where he stood.”

"So, just in case I'm gone tomorrow, please know this: I voted against, Biden, that incompetent, lying, flip-flopping, insincere, double-talking, radical socialist, terrorist excusing, bleeding heart, narcissistic, scientific and economic moron that spent eight years-in the White House with Obama trying to destroy our wonderful country and turn it into Muslim loving, socialist crap hole like Obama came from and I don't mean Hawaii! Participating in a gun buy-back program because you think criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you think your neighbors have too many kids.”

Make My Day -- Pass it on!

Regards, Clint

Anonymous eMail -- H/T ppc.

'The Worst Is Yet To Come': The Curse of High Inflation.

Globally, people are experiencing inflation at levels not seen for decades as prices surge for essentials like food, heating, transport and accommodation. And though a peak could be in sight, the effects may yet get worse.

How did we get here? In two words: pandemic and war.

A long and comfortable period of scant inflation and low interest rates ended abruptly after COVID-19 struck, as governments and central banks kept locked-down businesses and households afloat with trillions of dollars of support.

That lifeline kept workers from joining dole queues, businesses from going broke and house prices from crashing. But it also knocked supply and demand out of kilter as never before.

By 2021, as lockdowns ended and the global economy grew at its fastest post-recession pace in 80 years, all that stimulus money overwhelmed the world's trading system.

Factories that had been idled could not ratchet up fast enough to meet demand, COVID-safe rules caused labour shortages in retail, transport and healthcare, and the recovery boom caused a spike in energy prices.

If that wasn't enough, Russia invaded Ukraine in February and Western sanctions on the major oil and gas exporter sent fuel prices yet higher.

WHY IT MATTERS.

Known as a "tax on the poor" because it hits those on low incomes the hardest, double-digit inflation has exacerbated inequalities worldwide. While wealthier consumers can rely on savings built up during pandemic lockdowns, others struggle to make ends meet and a growing number rely on food banks.

With winter setting in across the northern hemisphere, that squeeze on living costs will tighten as fuel bills soar. Workers have taken strike action in sectors from healthcare to aviation to demand that wages keep pace with inflation. In most cases, they are having to settle for less.

Cost of living concerns dominate the politics of rich nations – in some cases relegating other priorities, such as climate change action.

While recent falls in gasoline prices have eased some of the pressure, inflation remains a top focus for U.S. President Joe Biden's administration. France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Olaf Scholz are stretching their budgets to channel billions of euros into support programmes.

But if things are tough in industrialised economies, rocketing food prices are worsening poverty and suffering in poorer countries, from Haiti to Sudan and Lebanon to Sri Lanka.

The World Food Programme estimates an extra 70 million people worldwide have been driven closer to starvation since the start of the Ukraine war in what it calls a "tsunami of hunger". WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR 2023?

The world's central banks have embarked on steep interest rate hikes to cool demand and tame inflation. By the end of 2023, the International Monetary Fund expects global inflation to have fallen to 4.7% -- just less than half its current level.

The aim is for a "soft landing" in which the cooling-off happens without housing market crashes, business bankruptcies or surging joblessness. But such a best-case scenario has proven elusive in past encounters with high inflation.

From U.S. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell to the European Central Bank's Christine Lagarde, there is growing talk that rate-hike medicine may taste bitter. On top of that, risks surrounding the big uncertainties – the Ukraine war, tensions between China and the West – are skewed to the downside.

The IMF's regular October outlook was one of the bleakest for years, stating: "In short, the worst is yet to come and for many people, 2023 will feel like a recession."

© 12.08.2022 by Mark John, "Yahoo News"