As an unfortunate side-effect of our UNfree trade policy, global markets are setup like a huge string of dominoes.  You know how that goes — flick over the one at the end, and everything else starts to fall.  That domino effect is now hitting people who, quite frankly, had enough problems already:

The International Monetary Fund’s steering committee directed the fund and its sister organization, the World Bank, to work together to ease the burden of surging commodity prices on poorer countries.

“A number of developing countries, especially low-income countries, face a sharp rise in food and energy prices, which have a particularly strong impact on the poorest segments of the population,” the 24-member International Monetary and Financial Committee said in a statement at the end of a meeting today in Washington.

“The committee urges the fund to work closely with the World Bank and other partners in an integrated response through policy advice and financial support.”

Food inflation has emerged as one of the main issues at this weekend’s meetings of the 185-member IMF, competing for discussion time with the global credit crisis. Food prices have soared 48 per cent since the end of 2006, a “huge” increase that threatens to erase the gains the international community has made in reducing poverty in recent years, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said earlier this week. (emphasis mine)

Needless to say, having the IMF address soaring food & energy costs in 3rd world countries is like hiring Lil Jon to teach a creative writing class.