Free Republic

Iranian leaders, including Khameni are going into hiding. Their attack on Israel failed. Civilians are panic buying. Link to transcript below video.

India's rice export ban has triggered panic buying at US supermarkets, causing the price of a 20-pound bag to surge from $16 to almost $50 in some stores. The south Asian country, which accounts for 40 percent of world rice exports, ordered a halt to its largest rice export category, non-basmati rice, on Thursday to calm domestic prices, sparking fears of global shortages. Videos and reports shared on social media over the weekend show Indian-Americans standing in long lines or panic-buying rice in Texas, Michigan, New Jersey Alabama, Ohio, Illinois and California. Some stores have hiked the price of a...

China has told families to stockpile food and other daily necessities after floods and coronavirus lockdowns sparked fears over shortages of essential goods. Beijing's commerce ministry directive on Monday stirred some concern on domestic social media that it may have been triggered by heightened tensions with Taiwan, while some said people were rushing to stock up on rice, cooking oil and salt. 'As soon as this news came out, all the old people near me went crazy panic buying in the supermarket,' wrote one user on China's Twitter-like Weibo. The government typically makes extra efforts to boost fresh vegetable and...

Detroit gun shop owner Bill Kucyk told Sky News that his store was being inundated by people who don’t really know how to purchase or handle weapons but are desperate to acquire them. “They don’t even know the process,” said Kucyk. “They just want to buy guns – and I’m getting about a hundred calls a day about it,” he added. Kucyk said he was struggling to keep up with demand as people clamor to stock up on guns before what many fear could be weeks of intense rioting should the election result be contested. “Normally I’d have about a...

In multiple cities across China, locals have emptied store shelves, stockpiling rice and cooking oil as fears of food shortages accelerate. Mr. Li, a resident of Ezhou, a city in Hubei Province, told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that locals have been rushing to buy rice for the past two days. It’s the same scene in other cities in Hubei, including Wuhan, Huanggang, and Yichang, according to social media and Chinese media reports. Officials have stepped in to try to ease the panic. On March 31, the market regulation bureau of the municipal government in Ezhou urged, in a statement on...

It seems that nearly every community, especially those that surround our big cities, has been plagued by panic-buying amid the mass hysteria the media have whipped up around the Wuhan flu. People are frantically buying toilet paper, for example, as though the companies that produce such items are about to be shuttered. They are not, but people are stocking up anyway. Are they all fearful of catching this flu? Maybe some of them are, which is why we are seeing face masks on people in lines to get into grocery stores. But the shelves are full by morning, thanks to...

Holy moley! I have a bit of a cold or something. I am out of Kleenex for my constantly runny nose (yeah, I know *yech* TMI -- but it is important to the story). I always get up early, so I ran to the nearby Ralphs which purpotes to be open 24 hrs. I encounter a hand-written sign "open from 8 AM to 8 PM." Well, dangit! OK, I go back at 8 AM. There is a HUGE LINE to get in!! There was a clerk at the door managing the line so she says I have to wait until...

Empty freezers. Cleaned out shelves. Aisles totally empty, as if it were a going out of business sale. The chicken thighs, the frozen broccoli, the toilet paper are all feared missing. It’s slim pickings these days at supermarkets and convenience stores across the region as people are jamming into aisles to stock up on food, household goods, and cleaning supplies amid rising concerns they’ll be forced to self-quarantine for an extended period of time. As cases of the coronavirus continue to spread, industry experts promise that the virus won’t lead to a break in the food supply chain -- but...

American shoppers flock to branches of the major department store Costco across the country in order stock up on supplies in fear of a coronavirus outbreak, CNBC reported. The various necessities being sought include hand sanitizer, paper towels, trail mix, water and surgical masks, all of which are being bought in bulk. Citing Nielsen, CNBC reported that hand sanitizer sales are up 73% since February 22, while surgical masks sales are up 319%. However, Nielsen added that it does not expect hand sanitizer sales to peak any time soon. The sudden surge of panic-induced shoppers is predicted by some to...

Get ready for the sugar shock. Raw sugar futures have almost doubled this year amid fears of a shortage, which could lead to slightly higher prices for candy but also a spike in the price of ethanol. Much of the rise in sugar prices has come in just the past few weeks as drier-than-normal weather in India, the world's largest consumer, threatens to leave production there far short of demand... The bigger impact may be felt at the gas pump, where the sugar shortfall is likely to drive up the cost of ethanol, increasingly used as a substitute for gasoline....

Raleigh, NC -- Though the Labor Day weekend is approaching, North Carolina's governor wants you to cut back on your driving. Mike Easley says gas stations across the state haven't been resupplied since Sunday, and are starting to run low on fuel. The stations usually keep a five- to seven-day supply on hand. But Gulf Coast fuel supplies have been cut off by Hurricane Katrina. Roughly 90 percent of North Carolina's gas comes from pipelines that originate in Louisiana and go through storm-ravaged areas in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Easley has prohibited all non-essential travel by state government workers, and...