A sea change in the consumption of a resource that people take for granted may be in store: something cheap, plentiful, widely enjoyed and a part of daily life. And it isn't oil. The two commodities have a great deal in common: Like oil, meat receives government subsidies in the U.S.

Aug 8th 2011, 14:29 by R.A. | WASHINGTON TODAY'S biggest news is the word that the European Central Bank is intervening in European debt markets in force, buying up Spanish- and Italian-government debt. The ECB spent last week expressing reluctance to take this step, but without it, the euro crisis threatened to spin irretrievably out of control.