[jeffkrol]

historically interesting................

Paul Ryan and his siblings are proud of their Irish famine-to-fortune history. They trace their paternal lineage to Ryan’s great-great grandfather, James Ryan, who fled the famine in Ireland for America in 1851, just after the worst of the catastrophe was over. But there’s something wrong with that scenario, and it is this: Ryan’s high-profile economic philosophy is the very same one that hurt, not helped, his forebears during the famine—and hurt them badly................
But crop failure wasn’t what caused the worst of it: a government economic philosophy called “Moralism” and speeches made in Parliament that are almost word-for-word like Ryan’s own speeches about his Republican budget are what made the famine catastrophic, causing needless deaths.

Charles Trevelyan, the British official who oversaw famine relief, was so intent on rooting out the “cankerworm of government dependency” from the character of hungry peasants that he ordered relief food be sold rather than given away. That decision was the single-most devastating one, increasing famine deaths multifold—and unnecessarily.

The words Paul Ryan used, last March, to introduce the Republican budget that eviscerates Medicare and other “entitlements,” had, to my famine-trained ears, an eerie echo to Trevelyan’s. Ryan declared that America was at an “insidious moral tipping point,” adding that “the president is accelerating this.” He went on to say that a capacious safety net “lulls able-bodied people”—I paused at the slightly archaic turn of phrase—“into lives of complacency and dependency, which drains them of their very will and incentive to make the most of their lives. It’s demeaning.” Far better for the American character for the poor to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” Ah, yes, those bootstraps again.

Trevelyan couldn’t have said it better—and didn’t.


History instructs. History also has a very dark sense of humor. Irish history, especially.

[Ratmagiclady]

Now we know why they went after the history teachers first.

[Medium FormatPro]

With companies like Monsanto the next rel potato famine is closer than one would like to think. On a bad side it would kill many, many millions. Not to worry about the srops though; that's why the same company Monsanto also keeps massive seed archives throughout the world.

Also how big is Monsanto... Between three companies; Monsanto, Bayer, (and I don't recall the third company name offhand) one would be hard pressed to sell any crop that also was not owned by them. If one didn't have their crop license - that same person or family would be bankrupt quite quickly

[Nesster]

The true free marketer would point out that during the prior two potato famines, government aid was given to the Irish.

This aid removed moral hazard from the Irish farmer, and conditioned him to dependency. So really, the true cause of the famine was earlier Liberal-Welfare state policies.


The market critics might note that in earlier years, the Irish had several varieties of tubers under cultivation. But mixing of seed and the introduction of the lumper caused a mono culture, one especially apt to get blight. Plus, the lumper was not as nutritious or tasty as the fine Irish potatoes of earlier times. This indicates the race to the bottom for commoditized markets. Meanwhile the Irish were farming fine grains for the top 1% for export. This indicates the inevitable results of income inequality driven by government influenced market forces.

[jeffkrol]

The true free marketer would point out that during the prior two potato famines, government aid was given to the Irish.

This aid removed moral hazard from the Irish farmer, and conditioned him to dependency. So really, the true cause of the famine was earlier Liberal-Welfare state policies.


The market critics might note that in earlier years, the Irish had several varieties of tubers under cultivation. But mixing of seed and the introduction of the lumper caused a mono culture, one especially apt to get blight. Plus, the lumper was not as nutritious or tasty as the fine Irish potatoes of earlier times. This indicates the race to the bottom for commoditized markets. Meanwhile the Irish were farming fine grains for the top 1% for export. This indicates the inevitable results of income inequality driven by government influenced market forces.

going back a bit further.. deregulation was the cause of widespread hedging..........

This meant that potatoes were barred from large-scale cultivation because the rules allowed only grain to be planted in the open fields.[34] In France and Germany government officials and noble landowners promoted the rapid conversion of fallow land into potato fields after 1750. The potato thus became an important staple crop in northern Europe.
Famines in the early 1770s contributed to its acceptance, as did government policies in several European countries and climate change during the Little Ice Age, when traditional crops in this region did not produce as reliably as before.[35][36] At times when and where most other crops failed, potatoes could still typically be relied upon to contribute adequately to food supplies during colder years.[

Then created the inevitable "boom cycle" .. to eventually being followed by the inevitable bust........

In Britain, the potato promoted economic development by underpinning the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. It served as a cheap source of calories and nutrients that was easy for urban workers to cultivate on small backyard plots. Potatoes became popular in the north of England, where coal was readily available, so a potato-driven population boom provided ample workers for the new factories. Marxist Friedrich Engels even declared that the potato was the equal of iron for its "historically revolutionary role.[3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato

[boriscleto]

On a single day
The fourteenth of September, Eighteen Forty-Seven, at the height of the famine.
The following goods were shipped out of Cork Harbour
147 barrels of pork,
986 casks of ham,
27 sacks of bacon,
528 boxes of eggs,
1, 397 firkins of butter,
477 sacks of oats,
720 sacks of flour,
380 sacks of barley,
187 head of cattle,
296 head of sheep, and
4, 338 barrels of miscellaneous provisions,
On a single day,
The ships sailed out from Cork Harbour
With their bellies in the water.

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