Restaurants and grocery stores across the country are experiencing shortages of certain food items. This has resulted in smaller portions and in some cases an increase in prices. This has happened for a number of different but often overlapping reasons. There is, for example, a beef shortage which has come about because of events in China, Australia, and Argentina. This all began when China’s hog population was decimated by an epidemic. China began jacking up its import of beef to compensate. Things got worse when they got in a spat with Australia because the Aussies demanded an investigation into the source of ...