On April 7, Taipan Daily stated, “The global food crunch could make the credit crunch look tame.” (You can read that episode here.)

This week, the financial elite said much the same. As The New York Times reports, “The world’s economic ministers declared… that shortages and skyrocketing prices for food posed a potentially greater threat to economic and political stability than the turmoil in capital markets.”

Two weeks or so ago, Taipan Daily wrote, “If you think of grain availability like financial liquidity in a time of crisis, the picture becomes clear.” Now the picture is clearly becoming worse. Kazakhstan, one of the world’s biggest wheat exporters, has halted outside sales. Major rice producers are banning exports, too. On the other side of the ledger, countries like Haiti are descending into chaos.

This is very serious business. The food crunch is well on its way to eclipsing the credit crunch… but that doesn’t mean the credit crunch has gone away.

Turning to credit and housing for a moment, the news flow from California continues to shock and amaze. West Coast home prices are now heading into “free fall” as a result of the credit crunch.

It turns out that Golden State home prices soared to insane levels with the help of “jumbo loans” — extra-large borrowing packages that required huge leverage to take on. Now that the banks are pulling in their horns, those loans have disappeared. They are simply nowhere to be found, and the Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac substitutes aren’t nearly as generous. The most a homebuyer can hope to borrow these days — without paying backbreaking fees — is something like $417,000.

That’s barely enough to cover the back patio in Calfornia. Or at least, that’s the way it used to be. With no more jumbo loans, there is no more market for $85K-a-year households buying $700K worth of house. This leaves a huge gap between what new buyers can buy and what desperate sellers are hoping to fetch. For California in general — and especially for the higher priced urban areas — $417K is a long, long way down.

Think of Wile E. Coyote taking a gulp as he realizes there is no ground beneath his feet. Or Tom Petty belting out “Free Fallin’” on the radio.

It’s a looong day, livin’ in Reseda… There’s a freeway, runnin’ through the yard…

Anyway, enough of that.

As usual, though, the news isn’t all bad. (It almost never is.) Ann Sosnowski has found a way to make credit lemons into lemonade for Diligent Investor readers. Her latest pick can help put you on the path to a recession-proof portfolio, and give you the opportunity to turn a nice profit to boot. Take a look. And despite all the troubles out there, enjoy your weekend!