On the current food shortages and protests created by biofuels (as feared):

The mainstream ‘Malthusian’ world is one where the population grows to the size of the food supply.

Now we have a new twist on that theme.

The monetary system burns up the food supply as fuel to the point where the marginal agent facing starvation has sufficient political influence to stop this process.

The first phase is happening as politicians around the world are allocating more funds to people who can’t afford to eat.

This only drives up the price further as markets continue to allocate by price, with no sign of a sufficient supply response to keep many from starvation.

In fact, newly emerging nations are producing income distributions that allow their higher income groups to reduce the aggregate food supply by both consuming more fuel and also by increasing meat consumption.

I expect a lot worse before it gets better.