Grinning While Rome Burns

Ah, the rewards of living a good honest life!  This, apparently, is what our world thinks is a "worth while" "job"-  conducting incomprehensible hocus-pocus with huge piles of money.  The benefits to the world are obvious of course- an improved standard of living, all around.

We DON'T have to put up with this, you know.  The laws could be changed.  In fact, it's time to OUTLAW the trading of food- and energy - for profit alone.  Just as it is obviously obscene to think about "holding" chemotherapy drugs for profit- it's JUST as obscene to hold FOOD- for profit.  And oil, at this point- people are dying- now for the lack of basic food and energy.  No, they don't starve- it's violence, first.

The big money managers are all a-flutter as to what to DO about starving millions- "oh, what can we do?!" they cry (see previous 3 posts).

NOT ONE of them, so far, has suggested CLOSING markets to speculators.  Would it be difficult?  Duh.  Could it be DONE?  

yes.

Start now.  Get the colleges riled up about it- START TALKING about it; CALL your legislator and RANT about the PURE OBSCENITY of "food profiteers" - and tell them you want hearings- and legislation - on how much of the increase in the price of food, and oil, is purely due to "speculation".

Start it moving.

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Ask yourself.  Is it possible to truly "earn" - $3.7 Billion in a year?    From that article: "Combined, the top 50 hedge fund managers last year earned $29 billion." Personally, my answer is no, that's not "earning".  There's another word.  And golly, the World Bank can afford all of $10 million for the starving in Haiti.  

And- WHERE did that money come from?  It has to come from  somewhere.

Really?  Truly?  Ultimately it comes from all those like the people in Bangladesh - who last year were spending 40¢ a day on food - out of the $1 a day they have; and this year are spending 80¢ a day- on their one meal.  Out of the 90¢ a day they have.

OBSCENE.

So, today- crude oil hits a new record high; over $115- and the Dow closes UP 256 points?  Can you spell "totally clueless?"

Sorry, DC, I'm still really really pissed.  But I'm enjoying it, anyway.

Cargiburton Announces New Futures Market

World famous Cargiburton Corp. announced today that they've envisioned an even better way to accumulate wealth; by trading in medicine and medical supplies.

"Look," said CEO Darth Chainy, "we're already shoveling in the money by buying up corn, wheat, rice and crap like that- just hold it a while, and the price goes up.  So it occurred to me- why the hell aren't we doing this with medical stuff?  I mean, Jeez.  How dumb can we get?"  He admitted the idea was stimulated by his finally realizing how much money is already pumped out of those needing medicines.  "We just don't have any piece of that action, and I resent it." he grinned.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Reserve Bank reacted with enthusiasm, and pledged to work hard not to regulate this "brilliant new financial sector instrument."  "This really could be the answer to the burst housing bubble." burbled Ben-Bob Berninny, the Head Fed.  "I mean really, think of it- you buy up all these chemotherapy drugs- and hold them!  The price HAS to go up!"

Cargiburton announced new divisions specifically aimed at controlling the AIDS drugs markets, anti-malaria drugs, cold and flu medications, and medical oxygen.  Vitamins were ruled out- it's too easy for people to just eat green veggies, which they already control anyway.

And so it goes.

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Apologies to Crunchy- no, this is not funny.  In case some of you can't tell, I'm FURIOUS at the moment.  

Really, really egregious. (nasty naughty bad)

So, the world is running out of food?  People may starve?  Way cool!  We can make money!

"Investing in agriculture has been rewarding, even after a recent pullback. PowerShares DB Agriculture, for example, gained almost 19% through April 10 -- far outpacing the U.S. market. "

What a great idea.  Let's add to the cost of food- by adding food speculators to the scenario.  Those are people who buy "futures", which are a bet, basically, that it'll be worth more than the experts are guessing.  If they're big enough, they actually "hold commodities".  Waiting for the price to go- up.

Guess what?  Add a couple thousand "investors"- all buying- and.. hey, the price goes up!

Now here is a practice that the world should outlaw- NOW.  It serves NO useful public purpose- it's only to make people with money richer.

Shame on us.

Seriously.  Banned- Outlawed- now.  This is an obscenity.

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update, 4/14-

Cargill announces profits up 86% in first quarter - $1.03 BILLION

World Bank rushes to Haiti's rescue - new food aid of... $10 million

Sorry; but obscene is the only word I can come up with.  How DARE we allow this?

I'm having trouble reading my calculator, but I think it's telling me that 10M is about 1% of 1.03B.  So the world is tossing the starving people of Haiti 1% - of the PROFITS - of ONE food processing company - for 1/4 of one year.  Huzza for us.

And how to do it wrong..

In case you needed any more proof of the utter cluelessness of our "economic leadership"- this little bit in Forbes will do it.

Briefly quoting: 

'Food prices, if they go on like they are doing today ... the consequences will be terrible,' IMF managing director Dominque Strauss-Kahn said.

'Hundreds of thousands of people will be starving ... leading to disruption of the economic environment,' Strauss-Kahn told a news conference at the close of the IMF spring meeting here.

Development gains made in the past five or 10 years could be 'totally destroyed,' he said, warning that the issue goes beyond humanitarian concerns.

My bold.  IMF is "International Monetary Fund".  

Pretty grim.

Meanwhile, in lovely nice Minneapolis- the vandals are loose, and armed.

This is how

My good friend Crunchy Chicken has got an absolutely spectacular example of how to "just do it" up on her website today.

This is SO wonderful, and impressive.  She saw a way.  She just did it.  She didn't write to her congressman- she just got the job done. 

(No, I'm not saying don't write your congressman.  Just that it's not always the fastest, most efficient way to get something DONE.)

Very, very, well done.

Resurfacing

If you'll allow me to continue the conceit- when you're pushing on icebergs like that- over 4' of open water- when something changes (like the iceberg moving a tad) you're quite likely to- lose your "grip" (if you can ever HAVE a "grip" on an iceberg) - and slip - and fall into the water.

Not necessarily a disaster, but it takes time to climb out.  What I was doing was some intensive people stuff for 2 days, and I do mean intensive.  When it was over, I slept, essentially straight, for 56 hours.  That's tired.

Climbing back out of the icewater now, but it's slow.  Scanning the headlines and trends, there's loads of bad news to crow about still, and that's getting depressing.  So I want to point you instead to a lovely example of how to do "it" right.  This is a well written article, too- Irish town - and points out beautifully what even mainstream people are slowly coming to realize: we're unbelievably wasteful- and if we can just cut out the waste, we quickly discover we don't NEED nearly the energy we're already consuming.

Maxed for a bit

It's aggravating, there are just tons of fun topics flying by these days, but I'm currently "maxed out"- and going to be that way for a while longer.

The image you may want to take with you- guy with two feet on the houseboat- and both hands on the iceberg, which is 10 times bigger than the boat, and currently 4 feet away.  So I'm mostly dangling over the water.

Back as soon as I can.