You know there's something not quite right when Wal-Mart begins to ration things. There were a few stories today that caught my eye, and one was about Wal-Mart rationing rice. Here's an excerpt from The Blue Marble Blog, Mother Jones Magazine's blog:

Because of rising rice prices around the globe and worries about shortages, the biggest big box has announced that it will ration long grain, jasmine, and basmati rice, allowing customers to purchase only four bags per visit.

Since the beginning of 2008, rice prices have risen 68 percent worldwide. This is one of the main reasons that food riots have broken out recently all over the developing world.

Another Blogger, this one at the Houston Chronicle noted that,

Last night, I noticed that the shelves in Walmart have not been re-supplied from the weekend madness...I asked a couple of employees what was going on. As near as they could figure, fewer supply trucks are coming to the store. When they do come, they are filled to the brim. They are stuffed in order to make fewer trips to the store and save money because of the high diesel costs. In other words, Walmart is trying to make the supply chain as efficient as possible to save money.

It's not totally clear why Wal-Mart is rationing rice, and cutting back on stocking their shelves. One contributing factor is almost certainly Ethanol, which Wal-Mart has started advertising. Likely, rising fuel costs are also to blame, and since Wal-Mart's 7,200 semi tractor-trailers used 6.3 billion gallons of diesel fuel last year, that's no small cost. Once can only hope that Wal-Mart's obsession with the bottom line won't lead to hardship for the poor and hungry.