Egypt Cannot Feed Itself

A vendor sold bread on Wednesday in a poor section of Cairo, where lines are long and customers pushy. Shawn Baldwin for the New York Times

Bakers Become Latest Victims Of Egypt Subsidy Cuts -- The Guardian

Economists warn that restrictions on bread sales could trigger a 'revolution of the hungry'

Mohamed Sayed, 22, has baked bread at his family's bakery in west Cairo for the past decade, but he fears this year may be his last. "We're going bankrupt," he said. "In fact, we're already at that stage."

He is not alone. On Tuesday, Sayed was one of hundreds of striking bakers in flour-stained clothes to descend on Cairo from surrounding cities and block the road outside Egypt's ministry of supply. By law, bakers must sell each loaf they make for the knockdown price of five piasters – about half an English penny. In return, they are supposed to be reimbursed by the ministry of supply. But the bakers say this subsidy only covers two-thirds of the cost. Many also claim that for the last six months they haven't even been paid what is legally theirs.

"We need to feed our families," said Raafat Boheith, another baker from Cairo. "We are currently losing and paying from our pockets."

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My Comment: Growing up in the former Soviet Union taught me one thing .... command and subsidized economies never never never work. And with tourists now avoiding Egypt as the plague .... the Egyptian government does not have the financial means to even come close to supporting such a subsidized system. My prediction .... as bad as the unrest has been in Egypt for the past two years, it is about to get worse.