Milked

When I remember, I read non-American newspapers: The Guardian, Hindustan Times, and International Herald Tribune, all well-written, informative newspapers which tell you things American newspapers do not.

The IHT, for instance, is the source of today's post, In a growing world, milk is the new oil. I'd heard that milk was going up, but isn't everything going up? The American dollar is worth slightly less than the Canadian dollar right now, for the love of Shatner. Of course milk is expensive!

But there's more ahoof here:

"There's a world shortage of milk," said Philip Goode, manager of international policy at Dairy Australia in Canberra.

But the biggest force driving up milk prices is the same one that has driven up prices for conventional commodities like iron ore and copper: a roaring global economy. Rising incomes, from China and India to Latin America and the Middle East, are lifting millions of people out of poverty and into the middle class.

It turns out that, along with zippy cars and flat-panel TVs, milk is the mark of new money, a significant source of protein that factors into much of any affluent person's diet. Milk goes into infant formulas, chocolates, ice cream and cheese. Most baked goods contain butter, and coffee chains like Starbucks sell more milk than coffee.

We're still big, big milk suppliers ourselves, so our prices are not going up as quickly as other nations' costs. But still. Good century, America. We had a good one.