Massive food shortages -- and the government is going to blame you.

Why should you heed my warning?

In January, I purchased N95 masks while they were still plentiful. In early February, I stocked up on hand sanitizer, disinfectant, and toilet paper long before the panic buyers wiped the shelves clean. In March, I added enough flour and yeast to see my family through to the end of the year.

Before the lockdown began, I advised family and friends to have two months of supplies and to put in a garden. I cautioned coworkers against going to the gym. I passed out disinfectant wipes at work and campaigned for a company-wide handwashing program.

I am not trying to blow my own horn. I do want to make you aware that I have been ahead of the curve on this pandemic. My nickname is “ The Oracle.” I don’t have great psychic ability, but I have learned to discern the truth from a sea of propaganda.

Massive food shortages are coming and the government is going to blame you for “hoarding.”

Why the Public is to Blame

The feds manage the failures of their agencies by redirecting our anger at each other. They manipulate public opinion to achieve a desired response away from them. When that fails, they flood social media with propaganda or simply create distractions -- anything to keep you from calling for their heads.

This is why you read about churches holding services for Easter. This is the reason for protests in Michigan to lift the lockdown. It’s nothing more than political astroturfing. Pundits can point to these manufactured demands to open the economy and avoid taking responsibility for the surge in cases that will surely result.

In the past, some have responded to my warnings by parroting the official line of the government.

In February, a coworker told me I was “overreacting" for constantly using hand sanitizer, explaining that the CDC said the epidemic was confined to China. I don’t fault them because like so many others, they believe the disease experts simply “got it wrong."

The government is not managing a disease outbreak, but rather the public response to a disease outbreak.

“This is not a hypothetical threat. History is replete with examples of pathogens sweeping populations that lack immunity, causing political and economic upheaval.” The Atlantic

We have since learned that senior government officials were aware of this outbreak as early as November. Instead of sounding the warning, public health officials and those tied to the Trump administration were more interested in keeping investors from fleeing the sinking stock market. We later learned that at least a few politicians took advantage of insider information to dump their investments during this period.

Although the public now realizes that government personnel lied about their health and safety, few are willing to apply that lesson to current and future proclamations about COVID-19. But we should because our lives depend on it.

It’s a hard pill to swallow. Political leaders are willingly endangering our lives. Make no mistake, no one in government cares if you or someone you love dies as a result of their disinformation campaigns.

What We Can Learn From the Mask Shortages

Early on, it became painfully obvious that the US federal government was ill-prepared for a major disease outbreak, despite warnings from the intelligence community and their own agencies. This failure became embodied in the public outcry about mask shortages from medical workers on the frontline who were reduced to wearing garbage bags.

Instead of holding those responsible for the shortages accountable -- government agencies, public health officials, and the corporate boards of hospitals -- the blame was placed on those who bought supplies long before there was a shortage.

Ignoring that doctors and nurses do not get their PPE from the drywall aisle of hardware stores, the public was told buying two or three masks meant hospitals didn’t have the millions they needed. Our nation’s ability to fight a deadly disease pandemic seemingly rested entirely on the inventory of Home Depot.

So began government damage control. Any answer will do, even the most ludicrous.

We were supposed to believe that a tiny fraction of the population purchasing a common item would thwart pandemic planning by the world’s leading experts with a virtually unlimited budget. We were supposed to believe that no study of disease outbreaks over the past century predicted that demand for masks and sanitation supplies would skyrocket. We were supposed to believe that government had no obligation to address the needs of essential workers.

The public was supposed to accept that the lack of basic protection for frontline medical workers was the fault of consumers -- not the hospitals, state and federal government, or the CDC -- the very people with the authority and responsibility for keeping everyone safe.

Doubling down to hide their failure, public health officials launched a campaign to tell the public to not wear masks.

“Seriously people — STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus. . .” US Surgeon General

This is precisely how the health officials will address the coming food shortages. They will not heed the warnings. They will waste valuable time. They will then blame the public for hoarding rather than alleviating the problem.

Why You Can Expect Food to be Scarce

The warnings are here.

“That’s why any labor shortage in the food system, but especially a shortage of truck drivers, could pose a serious threat to the food supply chain if the high demand for groceries continues unabated.” Forbes “As governments impose lockdowns in countries across the world, recruiting seasonal workers will become impossible unless measures are taken to ensure vital workers can still move around, while preventing the virus from spreading.” -- The Guardian “Meanwhile, food banks and pantries are having trouble supplying enough food to people who need it, including millions of children who no longer are getting free meals at school and people who’ve lost jobs in recent weeks.” -- NPR

There are dozens of articles screaming about disruptions in the food chain. What you don’t read about are the plans by government to address this impending catastrophe.

That’s because there isn’t one.

What You Can Expect

The federal government doesnt prepare, it reacts. Often, the only solution they have is to blame someone -- anyone else.

No one in government is addressing the issue with viable solutions such as allowing food packaged for sale to restaurants to be carried in grocery stores. Or, whether the mnufacturers of industrial supplies of toilet paper, hand towels, and soap should make their products available to households. We might even allow farms to sell direct to consumers rather than destroying food. We may consider making it easier for migrant farm workers to do their job. We don’t know if any of these might work because no one is managing the problem and evaluating possible temporary measures.

Instead, some crops won’t be harvested this summer. Trucker shortages will cause supply chain interruptions. Grocery worker will continue to die. And empty store shelves will drive consumers to stock up even more exacerbating the problem.

And the government answer to all this will be to blame it on consumers “hoarding" food. This will be their response instead of dealing with the issue.

If you haven’t done so, start a garden now.