Well, now we've seen everything. Welcome to Sh*tPANIC

But what should we have expected? When you give farmers taxpayer money to grow food to put in Hummers, and then create hyperinflation to mask an epic housing crash, all kinds of bad thing happen...

Shortages Threaten Farmers’ Key Tool: Fertilizer

Some kinds of fertilizer have nearly tripled in price in the last year, keeping farmers from buying all they need. That is one of many factors contributing to a rise in food prices that, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program, threatens to push tens of millions of poor people into malnutrition.

Protests over high food prices have erupted across the developing world, and the stability of governments from Senegal to the Philippines is threatened.

In the United States, farmers in Iowa eager to replenish nutrients in the soil have increased the age-old practice of spreading hog manure on fields. In India, the cost of subsidizing fertilizer for farmers has soared, leading to political dispute. And in Africa, plans to stave off hunger by increasing crop yields are suddenly in jeopardy.

The squeeze on the supply of fertilizer has been building for roughly five years. Rising demand for food and biofuels prompted farmers everywhere to plant more crops. As demand grew, the fertilizer mines and factories of the world proved unable to keep up.

Some dealers in the Midwest ran out of fertilizer last fall, and they continue to restrict sales this spring because of a limited supply.

Ready for the wars, riots, protests, social unrest and toppled governments that come with FoodPANIC?

HousingPANIC Harsh Reality of the Day

They're eating dirt now in Haiti.

Try to keep that in mind when you get in your SUV filled with ethanol-blend and drive to Wal-Mart today.

Uh, not sure if you noticed, but oil just hit $117. Thank you George Bush. Thank you Dick Cheney. Thank you Ben Bernanke. Thank you gas guzzlers.

$117.

Wow.

OilPANIC?

At one point soon, some folks (think Wal-Mart worker) are gonna have to decide whether they're better off driving to work, or just not working. And those far-flung homes in places like Maricopa Arizona? Getting more and more worthless by the day.

Some experts are crying "bubble" and saying the price is gonna collapse soon. Others are pointing to the millions in India and China lining up to get into cars, and the lack of an energy policy in the USA.

I'm not sure, but it does look like a bubble. But I think we all know now that bubbles can go on longer than anyone ever thought possible. I happily hardly ever get in a car, and consume or purchase very little, so it doesn't hit me much, but $117 oil means pretty much everything will be going up in price. $200 oil? That's another ballgame.

Experts divided on how high oil will go

As prices in New York reached a new high of more than $116 US per barrel Friday, finding common ground among observers proved difficult.

For oil price analyst Walter Zimmermann, a New Jersey-based vice-president with ICAP United, $125 US is the magic number at which technical and psychological forces will reach a "crescendo" and create a new market reality.