The problem wasn't with all contracts. The problem had to do with contracts that had their pricing set by the cash market. Futures market cattle have a present value attached to them when the contract is made; therefore they are not a problem. Their price is a market price that goes up or down based on supply/demand, not necessarily market manipulation. In the extreme sense you can think of it as the Hunt Brothers trying to corner the market in silver except with the market structure in cattle the time period is a repeating 2 week period.
Variances between the cash price and the "captive supply" contracts adjusted for quality (SH correctly pointed out: as it relates to value in dollars) were the question. The amount of the manipulation in a sum of the two week periods was the question. This did not mean that every two week period had to follow the pattern for the pattern to be viable plaintiff argument. I will soon post "The Pickett Case: A Riddle in an Enigma". Of course Tyson's is a master of the summation formula frauds as it is where their main business lies (another pun). How do you think they were able to buy IBP? The "good" guys at GIPSA and the USDA have been castrated by the influence of Tyson on the hill. This is what is called "agency capture".
Variances between the cash price and the "captive supply" contracts adjusted for quality (SH correctly pointed out: as it relates to value in dollars) were the question. The amount of the manipulation in a sum of the two week periods was the question. This did not mean that every two week period had to follow the pattern for the pattern to be viable plaintiff argument. I will soon post "The Pickett Case: A Riddle in an Enigma". Of course Tyson's is a master of the summation formula frauds as it is where their main business lies (another pun). How do you think they were able to buy IBP? The "good" guys at GIPSA and the USDA have been castrated by the influence of Tyson on the hill. This is what is called "agency capture".