Had been monitoring our CPI for Food and Non-alcoholic beverages for awhile now. Came to the conclusion that they had been steadily increasing since 2004. The following graph is the result of my observation.
This has been a recurring theme over the last several years and these activities were a principle reason why inflation rates increased in the period leading up to the crisis. Major international organisations like World Development Movement have associated these speculative forays with rising starvation. Their "The Great Hunger Lottery" report shows how such speculation on food has impacted on the poor around the world. Hunger and starvation escalated between 2007 and 2008 with over 1 billion people considered chronically malnourished at the time they prepared the Report. The major players in creating this havoc are Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan.
In my view, this speculation creates no widespread good and should be declared illegal. We should ban financial speculation on food prices. Reinforcing my views, below is the FAO Food Price Index from 1990 - 2011.
In my view, this speculation creates no widespread good and should be declared illegal. We should ban financial speculation on food prices. Reinforcing my views, below is the FAO Food Price Index from 1990 - 2011.
The rapid serial escalation in prices (starting around April to May 2007 and finishing in February 2008) followed by a serial plunge in prices is a classic sign that commodity price manipulation is occurring.
And today Brunei Times carried an articles titled "Shell-shocked investors flee to safe havens" where investors are now putting their money on farmland especially US farmland. We might be seeing again a replay of 2008 food riots.
Therefore, we must advocate that FINANCIAL SPECULATION ON FOOD PRICES BE MADE ILLEGAL AND BAN. Too many people suffer from it with too few people benefiting from it.
