America: Take a look at yourself

It was with a great deal of glee that I read an article that made known the disdain many Indians have for being blamed for rising food prices.
In the International Herald Tribune, Heather Timmons writes about the popular chagrin that exists in India after the Bush Administration hoisted blame for the rise in the price of food in the United States.
It is the same old story, of course. The United States blames China and India for the precipitious rise in oil prices while saying nothing about our level of consumption--which, of course, dwarfs the consumption of any other country.
Now these newly industrialized economies are at fault for the higher cost of bread at Meijer.

Here is the gist of the article:

NEW DELHI: Instead of blaming India and other developing nations for the rise in food prices, Americans should rethink their energy policy and go on a diet, say a growing number of politicians, economists and academics here.
Criticism of the United States has ballooned in India recently, particularly after the Bush administration seemed to blame India's increasing middle class and prosperity for rising food prices. Critics from India seem to be asking one underlying question: "Why do Americans think they deserve to eat more than Indians?"
The food problem has "clearly" been created by Americans, who are eating 50 percent more calories than the average person in India, said Pradeep Mehta, the secretary general of CUTS Center for International Trade, Economics and Environment, a private economic research organization based in India with offices in Kenya, Zambia, Vietnam and Britain.
If Americans were to slim down to even the middle-class weight in India, "many hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa would find food on their plates," Mehta said. The money Americans spend on liposuction to get rid of their excess fat could be funneled to famine victims instead, he added.

We Americans eat more, drink more, drive more, spend more, pollute more and blame more.
Now India is poking back at the United States with what amounts to a great line from an Eric Clapton song: before you accuse me, take a look at yourself.