I know how the Swiss feel.
It's not because I'm generally neutral on things: I don't' really have a favorite meal or movie or vacation destination. It's not because I like to keep my financial transactions private: while I do have a Venmo account, it is set to stay mum when I use it. And it's not because I like chocolate: I do. Period.
No, the reason I feel simpatico with them is that we too have a matching strategic reserve. Those are stockpiles that a country holds because they want to protect their citizens against the potential of a market shortage. For example, in this country, we have the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or the SPR. Maintained by the Department of Energy, the SPR is the largest emergency supply of its kind in the world, capable of holding up to 727 million barrels of oil. Squirreled away in vast underground caverns in Texas and Louisiana, the SPR acts as a hedge against supply shortages, whether they are caused by political forces or natural disasters.
While the petroleum reserve is the most well know, it is hardly the only one. The Centers for Disease Control manages the Strategic National Stockpile, which includes millions of doses of vaccines, antidotes, antitoxins, antibiotics, and other medications. Scattered in warehouses across the nation, the idea is to be able to deliver the requisite medications within 12 hours of a natural disaster, disease outbreak and biological terrorist attack. Canada has a strategic maple syrup reserve, which is designed to smooth out supply glitches when maple trees turn fickle. India has cotton stockpiled to the tune of about 2.5 million bales as a, well, cushion against harvest issues. And starting in World War II, we have had a National Raisin Reserve, though it was less about protecting against shortages than in maintaining prices. Indeed, in 2015 the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, and decreed you have the right to let your grapes shrivel without federal interference.
Still, reserves can serve a vital interest. Consider the National Helium Reserve, which was established in 1925. While the need for the gas has slackened now that dirigibles aren't considered state-of-the-art, it is a handy element to have. Still, in the name of deregulation, the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 started phasing out the Reserve, and even though it was extended by further legislation in 2013, the final stores are set to be sold off by 2021. All well and good, until you consider that this gas, used in MRI machines, research, and the production of fiber optic cables and computer chips, is experiencing a shortage. And without the cushion of a strategic reserve, prices have jumped 135% in a year. So until new supplies are discovered and new plants come on line, expect birthday balloons to droop and the Macy's Parade to be a bit less high flying.
What does all this have to do with the Swiss? Well, while the country has strategic reserves of gas, jet fuel and heating oil as well as sugar, edible oils and animal feed, it also has a stockpile of coffee. Saying that the beverage is not "vital for life" it decided back in April to explore phasing out the 15,000 ton stash. And it set November of this year as the date for a final decision. But after a massive outcry, as well pressure from the industry group IG Kaffee and companies such as beverage heavyweight Nestle and supermarket chain Migros, the government just announced that it was reviewing its decision. As one of the world's biggest consumers of Joe, with the populace consuming nearly 20 pounds of coffee beans per person per year, the powers that be are reconsidering just how "vital for life" it is. As many have pointed out, they are waking up to smell the coffee.
And the connection to me? Open the top cabinet in the kitchen in our house and you are likely to be hit on the head by a pound of two raining down from on high. Yes, honey, I know it's good to buy when on sale, and we will go through it. But at least for now, should the Swiss decide it's not in their national interest to keep a few beans for a rainy day, I will gladly offer up some of our reserve. As for payment, no currency needs to change hands. We have coffee, they have chocolate: need I say more?
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford enjoys coffee hot and cold. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
It's not because I'm generally neutral on things: I don't' really have a favorite meal or movie or vacation destination. It's not because I like to keep my financial transactions private: while I do have a Venmo account, it is set to stay mum when I use it. And it's not because I like chocolate: I do. Period.
No, the reason I feel simpatico with them is that we too have a matching strategic reserve. Those are stockpiles that a country holds because they want to protect their citizens against the potential of a market shortage. For example, in this country, we have the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or the SPR. Maintained by the Department of Energy, the SPR is the largest emergency supply of its kind in the world, capable of holding up to 727 million barrels of oil. Squirreled away in vast underground caverns in Texas and Louisiana, the SPR acts as a hedge against supply shortages, whether they are caused by political forces or natural disasters.
While the petroleum reserve is the most well know, it is hardly the only one. The Centers for Disease Control manages the Strategic National Stockpile, which includes millions of doses of vaccines, antidotes, antitoxins, antibiotics, and other medications. Scattered in warehouses across the nation, the idea is to be able to deliver the requisite medications within 12 hours of a natural disaster, disease outbreak and biological terrorist attack. Canada has a strategic maple syrup reserve, which is designed to smooth out supply glitches when maple trees turn fickle. India has cotton stockpiled to the tune of about 2.5 million bales as a, well, cushion against harvest issues. And starting in World War II, we have had a National Raisin Reserve, though it was less about protecting against shortages than in maintaining prices. Indeed, in 2015 the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, and decreed you have the right to let your grapes shrivel without federal interference.
Still, reserves can serve a vital interest. Consider the National Helium Reserve, which was established in 1925. While the need for the gas has slackened now that dirigibles aren't considered state-of-the-art, it is a handy element to have. Still, in the name of deregulation, the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 started phasing out the Reserve, and even though it was extended by further legislation in 2013, the final stores are set to be sold off by 2021. All well and good, until you consider that this gas, used in MRI machines, research, and the production of fiber optic cables and computer chips, is experiencing a shortage. And without the cushion of a strategic reserve, prices have jumped 135% in a year. So until new supplies are discovered and new plants come on line, expect birthday balloons to droop and the Macy's Parade to be a bit less high flying.
What does all this have to do with the Swiss? Well, while the country has strategic reserves of gas, jet fuel and heating oil as well as sugar, edible oils and animal feed, it also has a stockpile of coffee. Saying that the beverage is not "vital for life" it decided back in April to explore phasing out the 15,000 ton stash. And it set November of this year as the date for a final decision. But after a massive outcry, as well pressure from the industry group IG Kaffee and companies such as beverage heavyweight Nestle and supermarket chain Migros, the government just announced that it was reviewing its decision. As one of the world's biggest consumers of Joe, with the populace consuming nearly 20 pounds of coffee beans per person per year, the powers that be are reconsidering just how "vital for life" it is. As many have pointed out, they are waking up to smell the coffee.
And the connection to me? Open the top cabinet in the kitchen in our house and you are likely to be hit on the head by a pound of two raining down from on high. Yes, honey, I know it's good to buy when on sale, and we will go through it. But at least for now, should the Swiss decide it's not in their national interest to keep a few beans for a rainy day, I will gladly offer up some of our reserve. As for payment, no currency needs to change hands. We have coffee, they have chocolate: need I say more?
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford enjoys coffee hot and cold. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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