America throws enough food in the garbage to be able to feed every hungry person on the planet. The reason that this problem exists is economics. The food is made to feed those with capital, and because it's profitable, it's still profitable even when a bunch of food has to be thrown away. The cost and logistics of moving this food which is highly perishable is greater than the benefit of moving it. So it's instead dumped.
If artificial intelligence was running the game, it might find better ways to allocate the food through various systems of economics and price to prevent this behavior. But the way our system is set up, this is the normal and optimal behavior of the system.
4 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 20.6 ms ] threadIf artificial intelligence was running the game, it might find better ways to allocate the food through various systems of economics and price to prevent this behavior. But the way our system is set up, this is the normal and optimal behavior of the system.
http://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/agriculture-and-food-securit...
https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/hunger-and-malnutriti...