Forum Post: Wheat has gone from $4 to $25 on Speculation alone! Stop Goldman Sachs from ripping off the world!!
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 9, 2011, 2:40 p.m. EST by fucorporatemedia
(451)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
As bad as we think it is in this country, these assholes are making people literally starve all over the world.
In 1991, Goldman bankers came up with a new kind of investment product, a derivative that tracked 24 raw materials, from precious metals and energy to coffee, cocoa, cattle, corn, hogs, soy, and wheat to be known henceforth as the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI). For just under a decade, the GSCI remained a relatively static investment vehicle.
Then, in 1999, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission deregulated futures markets. Bankers recognized a good system when they saw it, and dozens of speculative non-physical hedgers followed Goldman’s lead and joined the commodities index game, including Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Pimco, JP Morgan Chase, AIG, Bear Stearns, and Lehman Brothers “You had people who had no clue what commodities were all about suddenly buying commodities,” an analyst from the United States Department of Agriculture told me.
In the first 55 days of 2008, speculators poured $55 billion into commodity markets, and by July, $318 billion was roiling the markets. Food inflation has remained steady since.
Hard red spring wheat, which usually trades in the $4 to $6 dollar range per 60-pound bushel, broke all previous records as the futures contract climbed into the teens and kept on going until it topped $25. And so, from 2005 to 2008, the worldwide price of food rose 80 percent — and has kept rising.
that's fucking insane.
I've been saying we need to end commodities speculation.
That is just the kinda nonsense that really makes me wanna start advocating things that OWS must stand against. the bastards.
[Removed]
it doesn't work that way...go research what happens during speculation you dolt.....the contract doesn't set the market price
You sent me a private message just to call me a name and I'm the douche?
Do you work for Goldman Sachs by chance?
no, you are a liar and a propagandist.....wheat is no where near $25 a bushel and has never been....the actual market price record was 439.72 per metric ton (11.97 bushel), in March 2008.....and is actually dropping now from a high, this year, of $354.47 per metric ton (9.64 bushel) in March, to friday's price of 261.43 per metric ton (7.11 bushel)..on news of surplus and projected high harvest levels....
You are a douche, who is trying to pass off bullshit as fact, and just a bit of checking, and understanding of the futures trade (that futures prices DO NOT control market prices) is all it takes to understand you're a liar....and idiot
you continually post on a board where no one agrees with you, trying to shut people up about a movement that you say has no importance whatsoever....hilarious....
It just makes me wonder, if this movement is so unimportant, who the hell is paying you to be here and why the hell are they hiring so many of you?
yes...don't address your lies...
...as if you are really interested and open to discussion
you can take your issues to:
How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/27/how_goldman_sachs_created_the_food_crisis?page=0%2C0
once again a deflection of addressing the lies you've posted
pot meet kettle
it certainly would appear to in the case of oil - unless or until other market factors come into play changing either part of the supply / demand equation.
no, not even in oil...unless the futures trader had a means to transport and store the crude....costs which exceed any gain they might see by buying too high compared to the market price.....and oil/gasoline has a "shelf-life...once the more volatile compounds evaporate, the quality of the distillate is diminished greatly....
It doesn't work the way you think it does
I am not an economist - however, I would point out, that not only have you not provided any facts,
Economists support us:
Economists can sign-up here
Economists in support of the Occupy Movement
Their statement:
you can go to wikipedia and find the definition of futures trading, or any simple google search will provide the mechanism, by which it operates....
Do you OWS people expect EVERYTHING to be done for you, by others?
like I said, I am not an economist -
my principle concern is in strategizing practical methods to destroy those economic interests that staunchly oppose corrective economic measures.
This includes everything from simple, widespread boycotts, to working with unionized labor to interdict shipments of goods and services, all while remaining entirely within the bounds of the law.
No I don't expect others to do this work for us - they have not, as yet. Why should we expect they will begin now?
"corrective economic measures"...? you mean inequitable distribution of effort, with equal distribution of reward...or put more simply: theft from those that produce, redistributed to those who consume...
"or put more simply: theft from those that produce, redistributed to those who consume..."
That's exactly what OWS opposes.
I agree with some of what you say about the futures trading, but I wouldn't deny that it has no impact on market prices. It does have an impact, albeit it is not the sole determinant.
Opposes....really? so the calls for free education, free healthcare, "living wage", etc, etc...who is to provide those things?
Futures do not set prices they are bets, or guesses on what the prices will be...and the bets are always (or are in the case of professional traders)hedged with opposite positions....those who had $25 dollar contracts would also buy lower contracts to hedge the losses....If a trader held a $25 dollar contract at the high, when market prices were $12 dollars...they would have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not hedged against it...
It is very hard to explain, but..the futures price and the "actual" price are not the same, and the "actual" is not driven by the futures price...at all...If it were, then investors could just buy futures in commodities that everyone had to use, like heating oil, or whatever, and drive the price to whatever they decided they wanted.....it doesn't happen that way, because that is not how it works...
the value of the dollar is/was a bigger factor than most....the dollar against gold, a good indicator of the value of the dollar.....went from $400 per ounce in march of 04...to $989 per ounce in march of 08...a rise of 247% while actual Wheat prices went from 166.28 to 439.72 (per metric ton) in the same time span...a rise of 264%....about the same statistical rise.....so to say that speculation was the cause misses the truth of the markets and the economic reality...
and considering the current price of wheat at 261.43 per metric ton, and gold at 1709.00 per ounce...the price valuation of wheat is clearly massively lower now......not higher
I though by "produce", you meant those that actually make the goods(workers) and create the ideas(students) behind everything you get.
But by "produce", you meant speculators and CEOs that get bonuses no matter how badly they mismanage things.
And by "consume", I guess you meant consume Ramen either while attending school or after a hard day's work, but not those that consume champagne on balconies on wall street to flaunt their excesses to protesters..
Sorry about that. Didn't realize how perverted your worldview is.
workers don't "produce" they operate a system designed and organized by others....the "typical" worker doesn't make the effort to know more than the minimum amount required to do his job (often marginally, at best)...without the creators/organizers of the system, the facilities, machinery, processes, procedures, and the direction provided by those in positions of authority within an enterprise, the "workers" couldn't produce anything.....
I guess you've never managed people....
You want a medal for effort with no results? sorry....that isn't how things are created....the results count, not the effort....
Yeah, I'm have a perverted worldview....since that is how the laws of nature, science and physics work, I guess those are crazy and perverted...
Please, sell your impractical fantasies elsewhere......I'm only buying the truth here...nice how you just dropped the position on "speculators"...but, I am sure tomorrow you'll revert to ignoring the facts and start passing on the nonsense to others, again....
unfortunately there is no rehab for idiots like you....
"workers don't "produce""
Sounds like your whole worldview is warped.
Yep....that's about the type of hazy, half-ass response I expected.....I guess it's too hard to think beyond your excuses, huh?
too lazy to work?...hahaha....I put in 60-80 hours a week, thanks
The only excuses I see are yours for being too lazy to work.
Not at all. I was thinking more along the lines of:
The NEED act - video
NEED act PDF
Wow...that one could have been written by Wesley Mouch.....without a doubt
there is so much propaganda and misleading statement in that document, I don't even know where to begin...
really? is that what you think?
because if it is then it must really suck to be you
I mean, think about it
our society is on the brink of some radical restructuring
and it doesn't appear that you will be able to cope very well
I am a producer, and resourceful, I will always adjust and cope
but, there is much talk of "need" (I am not speaking now of the link you posted) from the OWS crowd and those like them, that people "need" things....need is not a value, need is the absence of value, you cannot trade your "need" equitably with another person for the value they create...you must either be given ("gifted") the value of others voluntarily, or you must demand, or take it, by force...since you have nothing to provide in exchange....charity is a noble cause, but charity is a choice, and cannot be institutionalized,....demand of the value of others without providing equitable exchange is theft, and is immoral, and a system based on immoral principles cannot exist for long.
The system we have now is based upon cause/effect, effort/reward and equitable exchange between men...although for over 80 years the collectivists have been trying to circumvent that "fairness" with a contrived faux-fairness of their own that places "need" above "deserve" and places one man in the service of other men, while paying for the support of the men he serves...and that is what has damaged our system, and what needs to be redressed...I know you won't agree, because you want your share of the loot...but eventually the system devolves and the shares of loot become less and less, and those given the loot over the years don't know any other way, and refuse to contribute, and the system collapses...for an example...see Greece and Spain, and many other European socialist democracies on the edge of failure....we can have that same failure here if continue on the path advocated by OWS
sounds exactly like the argument against the current legal framework behind savings/investment institutions
really? they don't provide a service to their investors?
um, yeah, sure -
Like Corzine and MFGlobal . . .
Say, I bet you don't have any part of that missing one point two billion . .
Thats one helluvah service -
fukinA.
[Deleted]
simplesimon simple mind
i am keeping a list
i can do that, can't i?
of course i can
i can keep a list
and i'm putting you on it
Good for you!
yes it is
it is good for me
what do you think it means?
the Occupy Movement has no leaders
It is diffuse in organizational structure
whose ideas are alfa?
whose ideas are omega?
where do you stand?
We know where you stand . . . .
who can say who will be there
when you fall . . .
z
I really don't care what it means!
all has nothing to do with the impact on your life. focus on taking care of yourself. stop worrying about the other nonsense.
Of course it has something to do with my life. It has everything to do with my life - it has everything to do with the opportunities that I have as an American citizen, to work, to get a job, to buy a house, to feed a family, the shape of my community, childrens' education - it's all connected.
The economy affects everyone.
Have you looked at the price of fuel lately? I plow snow - speculation on the future price of fuel affects me, directly.
One of my customers sold the property to the owner of the house where I currently live. She is elderly, and she doesn't have much. She may be in a position financially where she needs fuel assistance. She may not get enough assistance to survive the winter.
I don't send her a bill. She finds that irritating. She always sends me something. If she freezes to death, because Congress can't get its shit together, and recognize that the economic theory and practice in this country has proven itself to be a complete and total disaster and the fucking repelicans insist on doing nothing to fix it -
there's a good chance I'm going off.
Will she freeze to death this winter? I don't know - probably not. But there are more people in need of assistance in this country today than at any time during my lifetime - and I'm an old man. That makes finding solutions from where I am even more difficult.
What is this?!?!? ZenDog writes, "....I plow snow - speculation on the future price of fuel affects me, directly....."
Why I'll be..... That makes two of us that are brilliant and employed. According to the deceived elect of the 99% we are supposed to be dirt bags that need a shower, housing, a job, and worse.
LOL!
What liars!!!!
It is only a matter of time till they wake-up and wonder how this can happen to them.
[Removed]
what does any of that have to do with how much the 1% has?
I don't really care what or how much the one percent have -
did they get it by fraud? then return it to those they stole it from.
have they advocated economic theory and policy that has crippled the nation? the whole world?
Get rid of their philosophy and their advocacy!
Remove their hands from the wheel!
Get them out of the Wheel House!
If they will not return to their plush staterooms and be silent -
so direct your anger at the ones who are supposed to hold fraudsters accountable. Are all people in the 1% fraudsters? To be in the 1% all you need is an annual income of $347,000.00 are you aware of that?
I am aware that our anger needs to be focused on the 0.1 or the 0.01 or the 0.001 -
so?
what's your point? We should picket the judicial system?
we could, and perhaps we shall. This does not mean we will remove our eye from the fact that the entire economic philosophy is trash.
occupy congress - geez is that so hard to understand?
not a bad idea - but Congress isn't located in NY or LA
and in fact the entire system has so completely been subverted to corruption that there is in fact no end of what we might occupy.
There is no reason not to be active in every single city across the country.
Every single person in Congress has a constituency located somewhere other than DC
that alone indicates the advantages of localized action
OWS is all over the country so what kind of excuse is that? It sounds like you are starting to get it though. Congratulations!
Do you even know what speculating is? Are you willing to think this through for even a second? For a farmer to hedge his crop production, he sells forward his harvest. Who do you think he do the hedge with? Someone that thinks prices will rise is very helpful for the farmer that worries that prices will fall. Can you at all get that?
So, "speculators" are pushing up prices. What do they do with the grain they're buying, throw it into the ocean? If you're nutty enough to think "yes", then try again. Really, an investor would buy grain, throw it away, and that would move world food markets enough to recoup his losses for the grain he destroyed? Really? And I guess it's all a conspiracy and no one reports on mass grain burnings and ocean dumpings.
Food has gone up for a lot of reasons. It has to do with the value of our currency, world demand (which goes up as more people move up the food chain to things like meat), global harvests, and how much we use for alternative energy. I hope you've heard of ethanol.
Take a breath and at least learn a little something before you go off.
I have already defined the partners, they are the buyers & sellers of the food marketplace.
I think ZD is on the right-track, he just needs to do his homework.
Let me just say that the people who control the OWS ( GoldmanSachs ) are terrified of this debate, because if SPECULATION is removed then their profits are removed and their dead.
You don't know what speculation is. Without a "speculator", as you would call them, the farmer would have no one to accept the other side of his trade.
Let's have some fun. Define speculation.
As a matter of fact, I just did learn something. I just watched the movie Inside Job. It's an excellent piece, illustrating the complete systemic failure of economic theory and practice in the United States.
From the University, to the Savings Banks, Investment Banks, Regulatory Authority, Advisory Committees to both Executive and to Legislative branches of government, Lobbying Firms, and right back to the Universities - there is a parade of faces, shifting seats on the Titanic.
It's quite stunning.
Given the amount of damage our very own theories of economics have produced, world wide, I believe that I am on the verge of advocating measures that indeed, would violate significant portions of that most august bill, the Bill of Rights.
Your arguments are specious, your advocacy corrupt, your hope of preservation of the status quo vain and useless.
The Occupy Movement is not going anywhere. It is here. I am confident that here it will stay, until its job is complete.
http://occupymovement99.blogspot.com/2011/12/occupy-movement-exposed.html
its another video - i'm on dial-up, don't do videos.
What's your point? You've exposed something? What? What have you exposed?
The cozy relationship between the ideology behind current economic theory? those who advocate that ideology? the way that ideology has translated itself into the complete collapse of our economic system, and that those who have created this mess are still in control? Still advocating along the same lines of economic theory?
Who are you?
What are you after?
Protecting your boss?
Or the public?
I only ask because time is short, I and We do not have time for nonsense.
Are you full of nonsense?
There is a solution for that
It's a stupid advertisement just ment to distract you and consume precious time. You're not missing anything.
thanks!
I'm keeping a list of nitwits and their methods of bullshit. This one may just find his way on it.
Calling "occupy" a "movement" is self-important and aspirational. Funny, my arguments are all those things, but yet you have no reply.
a) it is a movement just watch the news, watch politicians dance to our tune.
b) exactly right, because there was no need.
I see aspirational claims of a "movement", but apart from that, just a bunch of grubby 20-somethings messing up OUR parks. Did you see the guy "occupying" a tree in Sacramento? Just another "delegate" of the 99%, I suppose. LOL.
We've made stunning progress for something that doesn't exist . . .
Sanders Proposed Constitutional Amendment:
Sanders Petition here:
Rep. Deutch's amendment discussed here:
and you can read repelican reaction here.
and you should note: Sanders' petition has received
62998 signatures so far
That's almost 50,000 signatures in 24 hours. You'll find my name somewhere around 12,500
Bernie Sanders is a fringe kook and the only socialist senator. Yeah, Bernie's got it all figured out.
Yeah, stunning progress. LOL. Enjoy the camping.
yeah, he's a kook alright. Him and Waxman.
They and a handful of others stood up to the Pentagon and demanded answers to Gulf War Syndrome back in the 90s. By 96 their Congressional Hearings produced results.
Toxic exposures included:
PB Pills
Depleted Uranium
Chem Weapons Depot Demolition [Kamisaya]
Oil Well Fires
and there were others, including the simple use of pesticides, which in themselves might have been harmless, but in conjunction with these other exposures, is presumed to have had a negative cumulative affect.
why don't you kiss my ass
You'll have to wait for Bernie Sanders to come up with a federal program for kissing your ass, dear.
wtf? this does not even merit a reply
For a kook, Senator Sanders has done an excellent job of getting an audit of the Federal Reserve. Notice that nobody else spearheaded the demand such accountability. I'll take a kook that demands accountability and who can exposes the 16 trillion dollar free give away over the others any day.
Senator Sanders is to be honored for uncovering more facts than any of the other corrupt Senators.
Status quo? Communicating rational information is somehow wrong? How about NOT questioning random statements on a public forum and taking them for fact. What is that?
What was your original question again?
What I know about speculation is this:
It accounts for about 80% of the cost of a barrel of oil today.
That represents a significant drag on the entire economy.
bite me, fuck head.
ZD thanks, your right 'speculation' is the PROBLEM
Now just keep on that and educate people, and we can SCARE the living fuck out of the ruling-class that are making food unaffordable to the world.
Here's the deal here, the REAL reason for Arab Spring is that this shit that OBAMA's cronys at the CME have done to the middle-east is make food unaffordable, that's why they're in the streets,
Food has gone up 200% in the last 1-2 years because of OBAMA's CME team, why the fuck do you think they made him PREZ? Now he's paying them back by giving them a free pass to fuck the world, and the world is mad as hell at the USA.
no...sorry, it doesn't........commodities futures trading doesn't work that way....keep up the lies though, I'm sure you're fooling some of the people...
Cotton speculation introduces volatility
and Wheat
I don't care what you OWS boobs think or try to pass off as fact....
commodities futures don't work like that......
here's a simple primer on the process:
http://www.rb-trading.com/begin.html
you keep posting that same stupid quote....there is no proof of it, or formula for creating it, because isn't true...that is not how futures trading works.....If you would take just a couple hours to learn about the process you would see that, but like most things...like working and contributing value to society...you and your comrades can't be bothered....you'd rather just keep chanting some bullshit point than learn the facts...
OWS is dead, and was never a real force of change, just a brief temper tantrum from high-chair tyrants.....in a few more months it will be a anecdotal footnote in history..
I note you have not refuted my assertion with any facts.
and this is your desperate hope - one that may not be realized in your lifetime - but perhaps the necessary change will not be so difficult to realize - we shall see.
And BTW I am not saying you are wrong but accepting words on here as fact is a little frightening to me. Public forums are filled with misinformation but it has become a prime source for many.
you are quite right, of course.
Name calling. Never a good sign of a rational thinker. Please supply a link to your source of info as I have below regarding wheat production. Facts only.
You're right, I'm tired, and after watching Inside Job I'm angry.
That's no way to entertain a reasonable discussion, is it.
And since you come at the issue from the direction of the farmer - who more often than not is incorporated, agra giant, monsanto seed planting fool - but from the perspective of the small farm I can see it could be an important issue . . .
so hey.
I'll be back with a link. You'll have to pay attention though, because I'm not going to make a new post for it - I'll edit this one:
When this turns blue, I'm sure you will know what to do . . .
and here's a bonus:
Artificial markets are volatile; they're difficult to predict and can turn on a dime. As a result of the artificial oil market, the average price per barrel of crude oil increased from $31.61 in July 2004 to $137.11 in July 2008 [source: DOE]. The average cost for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in the United States grew from $1.93 to $4.09 over the same period [source: DOE].
NEW YORK - CNN -- Oil market speculation will cost U.S. households more than ever in 2011, a consumer group predicts, and the drain on household incomes will increase unless government rules to curb it are imposed.
I understand. Get cranky myself sometimes.
Do you know what your saying? If it weren't for commodity speculation a FARMER couldn't lock-in his sales price, if he didn't have a lock-in price, he wouldn't bother planting see. Anybody that advocates the destruction of the commodity's future trading is advocating wholesale destruction of all US agriculture.
In SIMPLE WORDS your advocating that there would be NOTHING to eat, the stores would be empty. No one would bother to plant seeds, sure you might find a few hippy's selling Organics at the farmers-market, but sadly agri-biz is how the Shit for Walmart is produced, and Walmart is where ameriKKKa shops.
Why are you advocating destruction of our food supply?
The farmers did just fine prior to the creation of the GSCI. It is shear ignorance to suggest that somehow they'll be harmed without the GSCI. We have overwhelming evidence that another bubble is being created with our 401K’s. We have proof that the 1% wants to raid social security to funnel in even more money. Only the most willfully ignorant individual would fail to foresee what is about to take place with the GSCI.
A wheat farmer can get a guaranteed price directly from the grain milling company. The speculator is an unnecessary middleman between the farmer and the grain milling company or whoever is actually going to process the wheat. All they do is drive prices higher by their artificial demand. It is the end users who "eat it" when they buy a loaf of bread. These contracts should be limited only to the actual processors of the wheat.
don't speculators create liquidity ? couldn't the grain milling company screw the farmer by raising prices whenever he felt like it ? either way, there needs to be some form of regulation.
Definition of liquidity: The degree to which an asset or security can be bought or sold in the market without affecting the asset's price. Liquidity is characterized by a high level of trading activity. Assets that can be easily bought or sold, are known as liquid assets. Speculators love liquidity because a freer flowing price has higher peaks and troughs. That is where they make the money. Picture a stream of thick oil running down a dry river bed. When it hits rocks it hugs their shape. It maintains a steady flow and height. A stream of thin water flies over the rocks, then dips down low. It's height varies dramatically relative to thick oil. The speculators buy at the lowered troughs and sell at the raised peaks. They are the ones who increased the liquidity and profit from it. Artificial demand, extra liquidity, always creates higher prices.
Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/liquidity.asp#ixzz1gAcI4HOD
they do not "drive prices" .....why do you fools keep believing this crap....
Companies like monsatan, I mean monsanto are already destroying our food supply. Wake up! And who gives a flying fuck if walmart falls off the face of the earth tomorrow. The last thing people should be worried about is hurting walmart. They are one of the most evil corps on earth. Fuck them! Organics are the future. They are sustainable and healthy. Monsanto wants a monopoly on the most powerful weapon on the planet, our food supply.
I'm not. There has to be another way.
like . . .
say . . .
price regulation
What needs to happen is to drive the SPECULATORS out of Commodity's Futures, you have to be a buyer/seller of REAL FOOD, otherwise you can't play.
That's the solution.
But what has happened is that OBAMA and his CHICAGO friends ( CORZINE) have turned the FUTURE's market into a fucking CASINO. That is why wheat is $25 intead of $4. So if you want to fix the problem, IMPEACH-OBAMA, and make a law that the CME cannot be run as a CASINO
CME means Chicago-Mercantile-Exchange, they control the world's food prices and they ( corzine ) put OBAMA in power, OBAMA came from Chicago.
Why would brokers continue to do business with the CME since they recently did not back the customers in the MF Global collapse. Isn't the guarantee by the CME to back all trades their major selling point? well that and creating liquidity...
No PROSECUTIONS OR HANGINGS have occurred, and they never will as long as these toothless tigers are in charge of determining wrong and right!
IMPEACH-OBAMA! 99% movement have enough impact to do that as a whole.
You still don't get it, 'price regulation' drives the farmers out of business. The current system works.
I'll explain it to you because you have a poor understanding of the CME. If you keep out the speculators, yes what you want can happen, but you can't shut down the entire futures for agriculture, otherwise you would destroy our food supply. This FUTURE guarantee of price that the market provides to the farmers is what makes our modern JIT system work.
Anytime you control PRICE, all you do is drive that commodity underground, is that what you want? To have to go to the black-market to find a tomatoe?
Yeah-ya.
What thread is this? Didn't I just answer this question? Are you the same clown, using a different linguistic pattern? WTF?
Here
What was your original question again?
What I know about speculation is this:
It accounts for about 80% of the cost of a barrel of oil today.
That represents a significant drag on the entire economy.
bite me, fuck head.
[edited content]
When this turns blue I'm sure you'll know what to do
and here's a bonus:
"Are you the same clown"
most likely...I have seen several names repeating the same arguments verbatim.
Thanks for the info! I cannot understand why this is the first demand of OWS considering this is driving the cost of everything, this is what is driving everyone into poverty, unable to make house payment etc.
First we need to make a deck of cards...How about Rothchilds for the Ace of spades...lol...No really someone needs to occupy the news media...Maybe than we can get some real news
I hear this so often. But can someone explain how speculators can manage to drive up prices? I mean, don't they have to sell the stuff to some actual real-world buyer sooner or later? There aren't warehouses being built to store years of stored wheat, are there? The only thing I can think of is that somehow all the buyers are being "conned" into paying too much, like it's some kind of elaborate price fixing mechanism, but I can't work it out.
Speculation on food must go.
Food crops don't exist in the first place without WATER. Investigate show water and rights to water are manipulated and control by massive multi national private interests. Water is a greater economic and political power concentration commodity than food or even oil. Water rights are so powerful that they are not traded on the open markets. Except in terms of who owns the companies that have bought up the rights to the fresh water of the planet.
Excellent point. Aaphat, would you be willing to start a thread on this issue?
You have plumbed the depths of my knowledge on the issue.
As someone who has worked in the restaurant industry for 20 years, I can tell you the practices of restaurants, vendors and supply companies add dramatically to waste and drive up cost. Aside from the damage of speculation.
http://www.wastedfood.com/about/
Great Link, thanks.
Tax commodities speculation and insure those revenues go to improving the plight of the lower classes. Tax them heavily for using us as chips in their casino.
This is another example of how Senator's Hatch and former Senator Gramm are responsible for mass-murder by starvation. They are the ones responsible for creating this legal framework that permits the GSCI to even exist.
We need to find some way to have them put on trial. We cannot do that within Congress because they are too corrupt. There has to be another way to hold them legally accountable for creating this framework that is resulting in mass-murder.
I'm pleased that the world is beginning to see how this works. The commodity inflation will continue until they reach critical mass with the 401K stream of money. After that, the 1% will be looking for new sources of money to prop-up the system and prevent a major crash (i.e. social security). It is all foreseeable. We know their intentions. We know the 1% is willfully creating a situation that is going to escalate. We know they are malicious, that these actions are planned, that their motivation to commit mass-murder is money and that they have no intention of stopping.
Investing is making a profit from anothers profit. Like investing in apple computer. The company grows, the value of the stock grows. You both make money. Proper and moral! Speculation is a making a profit from anothers loss. They as a group pay more than the stock is worth, sending prices higher than the shares are worth, then sell when there are no more buyers (suckers) left, sending prices down. It's the people who buy at the peak that lose. Examples: the housing market, the stock market, oil. In commodities it's the people who buy from the speculators that lose, but that loss is passed on to the end user, the consumer. The difference between stock and commodities is stock is not consumed. It lives on, rising and falling, profiting and losing, over and over. Commodities take a one way ride up or down, then are consumed. Speculators are leeches!
What you're saying is, "free markets" are rather expensive.
Libertarians, want more of this kind of thing.
"Free markets" are inherently reactive. We've let planning fall by the wayside in favor of letting whatever happens become something we react to after the fact.
Too many societies have morphed into the very few super-haves and the very many have-too-littles. We're on our way there if we don't change our ways.
There is Nothing 'Free' about "Free Markets" !
Please do try to do research into "Externalities" within The So Called, Modern Capitalist "Free Markets" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality ) and realise that someone, somewhere is always paying !!
Consider and then reflect upon Unrecognised ; Non-Linear ; Non-Monetized and Barely-Acknowledged - Costs, Risks and Losses .. which are 'Externalised', as they are outside the immediate ambit and limited outlook of The Tyranny of Double Entry Book-Keeping, with its Perverse 'Assets' and Ignored 'Liabilities' ; 'Virtual Profits' and 'Actual Losses' !!!
ad iudicium ...
What???
You mean there's no invisible hand, guiding all things "economic".
It's just a bunch of criminals in Armani suits with gold plated i-phones.
The guys who fund libertarianism.
All wealth has roots in labor.
There are a lot of improvements that need to be made. The list reforms people Americans want to see is long and varied depending on who you talk to. That said, I believe there is one reform that would provide the American people the best chances of seeing other meaningful reforms actually happen - that is REAL, loop-hope free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM! I have seen others on this site calling this the "fulcrum" or pivotal issue. Right now the current legalized bribery, pay-to-play system of campaign donations and paid lobbyists has disenfranchised the American voter. Until this is fixed, any other reform the politicians may try to placate us with (be it a change to healthcare, clamping down predatory school loans, new financial regulations, etc.) will be about as effective as a farmer putting a new roof on his CHICKEN COOP, but still letting the FOX guard it.
We need to go back to the original political currency. Instead of the current system of who can collect the most money from corporations and special interests it should be who has the BEST IDEAS to EFFECTIVELY RUN THE COUNTRY (we don't need "Wealth Redistribution," what we need is "Political Influence Redistribution")!
For the sake our our children and future generations of Americans, we need to take back our democracy from the rich and powerful who are using their vast sums of money to "speak" as if they represent millions of Americans. This "Corporate Personhood" that has crept into our laws is allowing them to manipulating our policies in their favor at the expense of the average American (the recent "Citizens United" Supreme Court ruling is a miscarriage of justice and must be reversed. The $50 or $100 a normal American may give to a political campaign becomes meaningless when corporations or other special interests are handing our millions to buy political access to the decision making process.
For decades now the corporations and special interests have had our "representatives" bought and paid for (both on the right and the left). Concentrating our efforts on getting the money out of our politics is the best way we can create an environment in which further reforms can be realized. Until we end the current system of legalized bribery (campaign donations) and paid lobbying our politicians will continue to be the LAP DOGS of the corporations and special interests. What we need first and foremost is real, loop-hole free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!!! If the corruption is not dealt with first, the chance of any other meaningful reforms becoming a reality is almost zero - the special interests will just use their money to buy votes and put forward bills that create loop-holes or otherwise twist the law in their favor. If we want our children to live in a country where there vote matters, we need to get the money out of our politics, otherwise they will increasingly become the 21st century version of the "landless peasant." Spread the word - End the LEGALIZED BRIBERY!!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM needs to be THE main goal of the protests!!!
We can push through this idea, but what we need, is someone unwilling to be swayed by bribery. We need someone who puts their country before their wallet. This is unlikely to happen unless we remove the lobbyists from government and the main way to remove the lobbyists is to limit the money available to the corporations. How do we do that? Boycott name brand items and start using generic alternates! If 10 million people each stop spending $70.00 a week on brand name foods, after a month, don't you think that would put a crunch in some corporations bottom lines? In time, lobbyists would be thinned back a bit and there would be a much better chance to push legislation through.
Nice strategy. In time we may also find out who is putting out a generic along side their name brand. You know covering both sides of a market?
The politician gives the corporations money then the corporations turns right around and give it back to the politicians campaign fund. Stealing our money and our future! The rich are trying to take over our country! I also heard corporations are going to be in charge of counting our 2012 election votes! They have won my friend! They already fixed one election for bush in Florida, which is brother was govenor at the time. Check out Lee Camp he is funny and very informative on the injustices done to us by our Government and corporate lobbyists. http://leecamp.net/
where are the people telling me it's inflation or because of ethanol?
This is how we get the Republicans on our side. If they knew they too were being ripped off by Goldman Sachs every day...they would be pissed.
Please join me in spreading the word about this. I really don't think people understand what is going on, and who is going to tell them? The corporate media? ROFLMAO
Why would people spread information that has no citations and from a source that uses "ROFLMAO"?
Nice Post, thanks for the heads up, it's good to see others are paying attention to this too.
High-FrequencyTraders & Momentum-Driven Hedge Funds made it their Business to Speculate on Food in 2011 /// The Speculative Scrum Driving Up Food Prices /// Bankers Hedgefunds & Sovereign Wealth Funds are Gambling on Hunger by Speculating on Food Supply
http://occupywallst.org/forum/high-frequencytraders-momentum-driven-hedge-funds-/
Stopping Speculation is the most immediate way to help Nigeria and everyone else!!!
The is the reason so many are struggling to pay their bills...
Yes!!!
not legal, but our laws are not being enforced
This is why we must focus on accountability. Why is the movement wanting Bernie Sanders to write an Amendment for citizen's united when we have all kinds of laws that are not being followed right now. They are already violating the Constitution.
I am voting AGAINST all INCUMBENTS ! The only exception would be for the very few that voted AGAINST the NDAA, and in my case that would be NONE of them.
this needs a bump
there's an action planed against goldman, for tomorrow I believe - you can find out more
here about goldman,
and LetsGoSquidding that's the Occupy page.
where there's more links and stuff
an index influences prices as much as a forum post on the state of the economy influences the economy.
an index is a published number, you can't buy or sell it
Wheat...stop eating it...half the world is most likely intolerant to it.
all food prices are going up on speculation
no....you are still wrong, will be wrong tomorrow, and always...
You can never stop this vicious and highly offensive WEALTH EXTRACTION MACHINE until wall street's stock market and publicly owned corporations are abolished.
Fight Greed & Corruption.
Make issues go viral!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupy-99-make-use-of-twitter/
Greed is a disease. Allowing the disease to live, prosper, spread and grow is corruption and/or depraved indifference. The farmers are likely only to see .75cents/bushel. That might be an overgenerous estimation as to what individual farmers will see, but you can be assured that like the 99% working class they too are getting shafted.
A hungry animal is a dangerous thing.
when can OWS say that OWS achieved its goals?
Can you guys irsfaggot, jrhirsch, ZenDog: Please give some data about price changes 1) starting from farmer to the 2) final consumaer in the grocery market at each step how the price is changing.
Right now wheat and corn sell for about $7 a bushel. A bushel is 60 lbs. So 1 lb. of grain costs just over 11 cents. This prices fluctuates greatly. By the time you buy the 1 lb box of cereal at the store for $3, the price has increased more than 25 times. Of course the manufacturer has processed the grain, added nutrients, sugar, boxed it, transported, and advertised it which adds to the cost. Compare this to a lb of beef at $4 a lb. It takes about 10 lbs of grain to produce 1 lb of beef. So relative to cereal, beef is a bargain considering how much more it costs to produce.
What defines speculation? How do u decide which is inevtment an which is not?
I just got a brilliant idea.
We should speculate on coal so it'll become expensive and then coal power will become too expensive to be viable.
yeah...do that, and then you can learn what commodities speculations really is, and does...and lose your ass in the mean time....
Commodities speculators that are not hedged in opposite contracts can lose more than their initial investment.....MANY times more.....it isn't win/lose
The EPA is shutting down coal plants.
Pts I wish.
GS will bring chaos onto its shores. When people go hungry is when the sh*t really hits the fans.
At this rate The Only Sanction that "The Goldman Sachs" will respect, understand and respond to, will be "A People's Eiger Sanction", as these Unconscionable Psychopathic Monsters run riot throughout This Good Mother, Our Earth ; Our Beautiful, Incredible and Shared Only Hommme ...
Re. "The Goldman Sachs" and "Queasing" [3:16 - 3:50] : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k !!
Re. "The Eiger Sanction" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eiger_Sanction !
fiat justitia ruat caelum ...
This looks like a must read.
in the duality we live in, everything has a positive and a negative. deregulation is causing the truth to come out about these crazy people who look at people as nothing more than fodder. we need to get these crazies out of power and into an institution where we can get them the help they so badly need.
The price is curreently $8.23/bushell on the MGEX
Yep. This is why there have been food riots and why they will happen here.
what food riots?
The food riots that have been happening in other parts of the world for the past several years.
okay I found it. www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-07/world-risks-food-riots-as-grains-climb-economist-chalmin-says.html
however, please note that droughts or flooding are the major causes of food shortages, but in the US this year our crop output is better. but African droughts are worse and in Somalia the militants are not allowing food to get in.
Where?
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/global-food-crisis.php
please use facts only. that is not a website that I find legitimate.
www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/world/africa/shabab-militants-attack-near-kenya-somalia-border.html
please understand WHY food does not get to people - Goldman Sachs has nothing to do with the famine in Somalia.
It is from 2008.
Yes, and this is 2011.
Same problem.
yes
The figures are wrong. check out the prices here http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/MW/
In commodities, the prices of onions are among the most volatile. But surprise surprise, there are no onion futures, neither in US nor elsewhere. And yet it's price fluctuates a lot.
So the argument that commodity trading drives up prices doesn't really fly.
Wanna take bets on fucking with the computer system ?
It's called "high frequency trading." The insiders get to run their programs on the exchange's own computers. They get to do whatever they can get away with.
They are thieves.
(Yeah, we need to waste HFTs, CDSs, every atom of MERS, and toss something on 25,000 banksters in slam for common law fraud. What else ???)
Nobody is starving. Walk the mall and see all the fat ass women in jeans.
[Removed]
everything is going up because the fed keeps printing money devaluing the currency hello! Once again - aiming at the wrong target ! you people refuse to hold your government accountable. you think they are your savior against the big bad evil world. Wake up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-3hZsXrxaI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mkRFCtl2MI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SQqjTxI3vc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EewGMBOB4Gg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w
http://thezeitgeistmovement.com/
http://blog.thezeitgeistmovement.com/
http://www.thevenusproject.com/
[Removed]
[Removed]
You fools have no idea what you are talking about...do you know that? Before you have the typical knee-jerk reaction, take the time to understand what the hell you're talking about....
Speculators don't set prices, they bet on what the prices in the market, supply/demand, will be on the contract date....if they buy too high....they lose their ass, or sell too low they lose their ass....It doesn't work the way you're describing...if it did EVERY investor would be buying futures..
The law of supply and demand: Increased demand with steady supply always results in higher prices. Speculators/investors increase demand. How can anyone disagree. You might as well argue that the earth is flat. There are some that always will.
investors do not increase demand, they don't even trade in demand...they are trading on the bet that the market will be better or worse than it is the day they take the position....and there are many factors, like the weather, political conditions, population, etc...futures prices are not the prices that the market must pay....when the futures were trading at $25...the "actual" market prices were about 12 dollars....anyone in a non-hedged $25 dollar contract, lost their ass....
please do some research before you comment further...
Hey while we're here debating a relatively minor point of economics, what do you think should be done to balance the economic inequity that OWS is trying to protest?
The only thing that can "balance" the inequity....increased participation less redistribution...
increased participation by who? less redistribution where?
Investors/speculators buy. What are they trading for the commodities? Dollars! They increase demand. Prices go up.
ugh...that's not how it works...but, go ahead and remain ignorant, I don't have the patience to educate fools who refuse to understand the truth of things
www.uswheat.org/newsEvents/wheatLetter/doc/26EEDAFDFC503A4B852579590079B447?OpenDocument
All the wheat farmers have started growing subsidized corn to feed the ravenous ethanol beast. Why is this so hard for you idiots to understand? It seems you go out of your way to not comprehend the world round you.
Wheat is up in price because it's being used as fuel.
wheat isn't up in price..this whole thread is based on old information...wheat isn't selling anywhere near $25...and hasn't for a very long time....it is selling in the "typical" range now....
A little lower than '08. but still high in the last decade http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/
Thanks!
What needs to happen is to drive the SPECULATORS out of Commodity's Futures, you have to be a buyer/seller of REAL FOOD, otherwise you can't play.
That's the solution.
But what has happened is that OBAMA and his CHICAGO friends ( CORZINE) have turned the FUTURE's market into a fucking CASINO. That is why wheat is $25 intead of $4. So if you want to fix the problem, IMPEACH-OBAMA, and make a law that the CME cannot be run as a CASINO
CME means Chicago-Mercantile-Exchange, they control the world's food prices and they ( corzine ) put OBAMA in power, OBAMA came from Chicago.
You still don't get it, 'price regulation' drives the farmers out of business. The current system works.
I'll explain it to you because you have a poor understanding of the CME. If you keep out the speculators, yes what you want can happen, but you can't shut down the entire futures for agriculture, otherwise you would destroy our food supply. This FUTURE guarantee of price that the market provides to the farmers is what makes our modern JIT system work.
Anytime you control PRICE, all you do is drive that commodity underground, is that what you want? To have to go to the black-market to find a tomatoe?
The price of wheat has to do with drought/weather situations around the world. For instance, last year Russia ceased export of their wheat due to drought, which in turn lead other countries who had imported some of their wheat from Russia to hoard wheat. Weather and natural disasters are the biggest factor in supply/demand and cost of food.
The price has changed so much because most of what used to be surplus is now going to make 'clean' bio-fuel. Pfaugh!
We'll all starve so the 1% can keep driving their gas guzzling luxury vehicles? NOT! At one time, this was a great idea, but then the 1% and cronies picked it up as a quick way to end a growing problem, skyrocketing fuel prices. Now, it's a waste of food and land. What happened to the push for zero emission vehicles? The 1% has a new fuel source, so, what do you think happened?
In the first 55 days of 2008, speculators poured $55 billion into commodity markets, and by July, $318 billion was roiling the markets. Food inflation has remained steady since.
Hard red spring wheat, which usually trades in the $4 to $6 dollar range per 60-pound bushel, broke all previous records as the futures contract climbed into the teens and kept on going until it topped $25. And so, from 2005 to 2008, the worldwide price of food rose 80 percent — and has kept rising.
Speculation is currently driving the cost of all of our necessities more than any other force.
One more thing Glenn Beck has been predicting for two years.
Ahhh... Glenn Beck.....isn't he that doom-n-gloom false prophet? I remember him before he became too extreme for even FOX news. Why? Because Beck was inferring that there was requirement for second amendment solutions to the Tea Party.
Yea. He is the deceived elect that trumpets doom and gloom to the world when we demand that the 1% play by the same rules as the 99%. No reasonable Mormon would even listen to this guy. He is a complete nutcase. He has never been able to make a logical argument.
Glenn Beck was right .
Glenn Beck is a moron. He says it is inflation and has everyone buying 'gold' from a fake organization.
When everyone realizes these high prices are just based on speculation and demand an end to it, this 'inflation' will end.
when beck was talking about gold, gold was in the $700 range. he has no control over the market. gold is a limited commodity, you just can't make or grow more of it.