If we look deeply into the crisis in Egypt, we'll find the root of the uprising, as is true about most uprisings in our history, is food.
To be sure, there's only so much one person can eat. My father used to say, how much money does one need? You can only wear one pair of shoes at a time and live in one house at a time. However, food doesn't fit with shoes and homes because shoes and homes have what economists call an elastic demand. Yes, you do need a pair of shoes and a roof over your head, but after that is satisfied, it really comes down to prioritizing; if it's within your wants, you'll buy more shoes and homes.
Food, on the other hand, has an inelastic demand. You need food. All the time. However, there is only so much food one can eat. Well, I like to eat a lot, especially when it comes to sweets, and don't get me started on oreo's, natures perfect food, because I'm not likely to stop.
So, what's my point with food? We all need it, but once we get to a certain consumption level, we can't eat anymore. Basically, we all need approximately the same amount of food, making the demand inelastic. So, for someone making $40,000 annually, their food expenditures may be 10% of their income; however, for someone making $200,000 annually, that would be only 2% of their income. That's a big difference!
While the protests in Egypt are becoming more and more political in nature, it started from the fact the working class, which are the ones who riot (middle and upper class people don't riot, they're blissfully content with life the way it is,) are hungry. They're spending a greater and greater percentage of their money on food and there's nothing left for anything else.
Looking homeward in America, we find the youth are unemployed; another demographic of the class that riots (older people have lost the desire to protest.) They've gone to college because they believed they'd get a great job when they graduated. Not only have they not been able to secure employment, but they have a mortgage on their hands due to student debt. They have to live at home because they can't make ends meet. That's not at all what they expected.
In three to five years there will be over 240 million people in the United States at or below the poverty level. With food prices increasing, could we witness the same thing in America that is happening in Egypt?