I was talking to an elderly relative a few weeks ago and she was voicing her concern about the supply of rice at Costco.  She went there and saw only two bags of rice on the pallet and bought up the two large bags of rice.  I could only imagine what was going to happen next in her well-connected community of Chinese women, the news would spread quickly and all the little old Chinese women were going to flock to Costco along with all the other stores to buy rice.  Given that my relative lives alone I wasn’t sure how many years worth of rice she was planning to stockpile.  In order to stem a massive shortage of rice in Seattle, I tried to convince her that there was plenty of rice available and that I would find rice for her should her two large bags run out.  It doesn’t seem to matter now.  Last week I saw news report for the Bay Area, the Costco stores are running low on rice and limiting consumers to one bag.   Unfortunately we’re in a sense fueling our own shortages and high prices, by panic buying and food hording.   I can’t really blame the little old Chinese women in Seattle but I know where to go should I need some rice.   I fear the food riots occurring in third world countries may be nearer that we think.