This article omits important details and is factually wrong. In its attempt to 'blame the bankers' it glosses over the role of ethanol policy and the federal re

This article omits important details and is factually wrong. In its attempt to 'blame the bankers' it glosses over the role of ethanol policy and the federal reserve on food price rises and wrongly presents the link between futures markets and actual prices. At the end of a futures contract term, an actual delivery of physical product has to take place. "Rolling over" long futures contracts does not mean the holder can get out of physical delivery. Exchanges do not raise prices of physical products by themselves. They also provide valuable price signals for producers about expected future events. Blaming speculators is easy, but a factually incorrect way to see the situation. A world bank report written in July 2008 stated that "large increases in biofuels production in the United States and Europe are the main reason behind the steep rise in global food prices responsible for 70-75% of the price rise...with higher oil prices and a weak dollar explain 25–30% of total price rise." It is a common theme these days to blame bankers and market participants for problems created by government policies. Market actors are agnostic. Governments set the rules of the game and should be the ones held accountable.