First of all, demand for food is very inelastic.  In other words, no matter how high or how low prices go, people are still going to need to eat.  So even if the Federal Reserve sent interest rates into the stratosphere, people would still need to go the supermarket to get food for themselves and their families.  Secondly, we are facing some severe long-term supply problems.  As I have detailed in previous articles, food production is being significantly hindered in a number of different ways, and that isn't going to change any time soon.  There simply is not enough food to feed everyone on the planet, and supplies are only going to get tighter in the months and years ahead.  No matter what central banks do, this is going to push food prices steadily higher.

But even though higher interest rates haven't had much of an impact on food prices, we knew that they would dramatically affect Western economies in many other ways.  Economic activity is starting to dry up all over the Western world, and as I discussed the other day, Europe has already plunged into a recession.

In addition, higher interest rates have burst the global housing bubble, and here in the United States we have entered what will ultimately become the greatest commercial real estate crisis in our entire history.

On top of everything else, hundreds of small and mid-size banks are now struggling to survive because higher rates have blown giant black holes in their balance sheets.

After seeing all the damage that they have caused, officials at the Federal Reserve finally decided to "pause" their interest rate hiking campaign on Wednesday…