Mike
Well-known member
The fallacy of corporate agribusinessís so-called "supply and demand"
argument is suggested by figures obtained from the Futures Industry
Assocation and the U.S. Department of Agricultureís Crop Production
Summaries. In the year 2000, for example, figures show that for each
bushel of wheat produced by the farmer, 16 bushels were traded on
commodity exchanges, for corn the ratio was one to nine bushels, and for
soybeans a staggering one bushel produced for every 31 traded.
A critic of this so-called agricultural "paper blizzard harvest," still
called by some the "free market" system, Texas farmer and a
representative of the American Corn Growers Association David Senter
believes that immediate steps need to be taken to curb manipulation and
speculation that affects our day-to-day prices.
"CBOT speculators are depressing the price of commodities by selling
unlimited numbers of futures contracts, regardless of what we can
produce or whatís in storage. These paper contracts with nothing to back
them up should be barred."
Reflecting on this deification of the law of supply and demand, one
veteran trader told author Tamarkin that "itís just a bunch of numbers.
And we all know that people use statistics the way dogs use lampposts
--- for convenience rather than illumination."
argument is suggested by figures obtained from the Futures Industry
Assocation and the U.S. Department of Agricultureís Crop Production
Summaries. In the year 2000, for example, figures show that for each
bushel of wheat produced by the farmer, 16 bushels were traded on
commodity exchanges, for corn the ratio was one to nine bushels, and for
soybeans a staggering one bushel produced for every 31 traded.
A critic of this so-called agricultural "paper blizzard harvest," still
called by some the "free market" system, Texas farmer and a
representative of the American Corn Growers Association David Senter
believes that immediate steps need to be taken to curb manipulation and
speculation that affects our day-to-day prices.
"CBOT speculators are depressing the price of commodities by selling
unlimited numbers of futures contracts, regardless of what we can
produce or whatís in storage. These paper contracts with nothing to back
them up should be barred."
Reflecting on this deification of the law of supply and demand, one
veteran trader told author Tamarkin that "itís just a bunch of numbers.
And we all know that people use statistics the way dogs use lampposts
--- for convenience rather than illumination."