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Oh, thank God for that then. For some reason I thought I read this article about how between 2005 and 2008 investment into grain futures pushed the price of re

by Cushman 15y ago

Oh, thank God for that then. For some reason I thought I read this article about how between 2005 and 2008 investment into grain futures pushed the price of real grain high enough that hundreds of millions of people across the world starved, while hundreds of millions of bushels of grain sat in silos, resulting in inflated food prices everywhere which still have not returned to what they should be, meaning people at the margins who starve every single day. But I guess I must have imagined that. It's good to know only governments have that kind of power here in Bizarro World.

anamax 15y ago
> thought I read this article about how between 2005 and 2008 investment into grain futures pushed the price of real grain high enough that hundreds of millions of people across the world starved Starved? Exaggerate much? What, exactly, kept them from buying something else instead? > which still have not returned to what they should be What is this price "that should be"? If you think that wheat should be sold at a given price, what is stopping you from providing it at that price? You're claiming that "investors" are buying grain for less and waiting for the price to go up. What stops you from buying at the same price that they buy and selling at a lower price than they demand?
- Cushman 15y ago
  Exaggerate? Not really, no. For the first time since we started counting, food insecurity increased as a proportion of the population. 250,000,000 more people went hungry in 2008, the worst increase ever-- while the grain harvest itself was one of the most bounteous, filling up silos and going to livestock feed instead of bread. But of course this is all in the article you didn't read. Never mind that, though. If you are seriously trying to draw some kind of moral distinction between a child "literally" starving and a child who goes to sleep every night not having had enough to eat, having a little bit less every night... I don't say this a lot, but God damn you, sir.

by Cushman 15y ago

anamax 15y ago

> thought I read this article about how between 2005 and 2008 investment into grain futures pushed the price of real grain high enough that hundreds of millions of people across the world starved Starved? Exaggerate much? What, exactly, kept them from buying something else instead? > which still have not returned to what they should be What is this price "that should be"? If you think that wheat should be sold at a given price, what is stopping you from providing it at that price? You're claiming that "investors" are buying grain for less and waiting for the price to go up. What stops you from buying at the same price that they buy and selling at a lower price than they demand?

Cushman 15y ago
Exaggerate? Not really, no. For the first time since we started counting, food insecurity increased as a proportion of the population. 250,000,000 more people went hungry in 2008, the worst increase ever-- while the grain harvest itself was one of the most bounteous, filling up silos and going to livestock feed instead of bread. But of course this is all in the article you didn't read. Never mind that, though. If you are seriously trying to draw some kind of moral distinction between a child "literally" starving and a child who goes to sleep every night not having had enough to eat, having a little bit less every night... I don't say this a lot, but God damn you, sir.