World Food Prices Jumped 10 Percent in July

World food prices jumped 10 percent in July as a result of drought conditions in the United States and Eastern Europe, the World Bank said in a statement.

 From June to July, corn and wheat prices rose by 25 percent each, soybean prices by 17 percent.

Overall, the World Bank's Food Price Index, which tracks the price of internationally traded food commodities, was 6 percent higher than in July of last year, and 1 percent over the previous peak of February 2011.

In an absurd statement, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said:

We cannot allow these historic price hikes to turn into a lifetime of perils as families take their children out of school and eat less nutritious food to compensate for the high prices. Countries must strengthen their targeted programs to ease the pressure on the most vulnerable population, and implement the right policies.

 The solution is, of course, to push for the recognition of private property rights around the globe and push for free markets, and then to get out of the way. Strengthening of "targeted programs" smacks of a call for a central planning role for governments which will ultimately result in bureaucracy, cronyism and banksters getting in the middle of it all. People will die.