Strategic Pork Reserves

Sometimes the real world outstrips my poor ability of mocking.

via Best of the Web:

Lard Have Mercy

The New York Times reports that China is in the midst of "an acute shortage of pork," which is affecting the international economy:

Steep increases for pork loins and bacon are the most tangible sign that after a decade in which prices have fluctuated but not moved significantly upward, inflation is creeping back into China. In response to this pressure at home, Chinese companies are starting to raise prices for exports, removing what has been a brake on inflation in the West...

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited the pork counter at a supermarket in Xian in central China on May 26 and called for local governments to pay pig farmers to increase production. The commerce ministry has raised the possibility of distributing pork from China's strategic pork reserves.

Strategic pork reserves? Let's hope the U.S. Congress doesn't get any ideas.