French President Sarkozy Blasts Food Speculators

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) March 20, 2011 -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy Vowed to "Confront Speculators Mercilessly". Disgruntled livestock farmers have been hurt by a largely speculator-driven hike in feed costs caused by soaring grain prices.

Last year the European Commission welcomed German and French calls for speedy measures to clamp down on speculators in government debt. [Please note that currency speculation has been going on for decades and is not something that largely took off last decade like oil and food speculation.]

In the US, republicans and others who defend big money and big business over any significant interference need to take into consideration:

A) The extra dollars injected into the economy by QE1, QE2 (quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve), and TARP is not mainly causing commodity prices to jump. Case-in-point, oil prices in the US hit roughly $145 a barrel in July, 2008 when QE1, QE2 and TARP never even existed. Also lets not forget all those extra dollars that those programs pumped into the economy is countered by the colossal loss in dollar value the economy experienced largely due to plummeting real estate values.

B) The current and expected further price upswing of food and energy commodities is mainly fueled by a huge influx of profit-driven trading and investment by hedge, pension and other funds (and others) that more often than not don’t want to even take delivery of the commodity, but instead usually sell it electronically, or in hard copy, like folks sell stocks and bonds.

C) The US financial regulation legislation was quite watered down. The actual rule-making to put teeth behind the legislation has largely been left to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and they have been inundated by representatives of those wanting to speculate and few representing the average Joe and Josephine. Guess who they mainly have sided with.

To those that write me complaining that this has little to with interactive TV so why am I making a big deal of it? Guess what, it indirectly it has A LOT to do with interactive TV, and as long as so many refuse to understand how serious a problem rampant financial speculation is in the world, and how it is harming the world economies and indirectly interactive TV, then I will keep pushing this subject.

In the US, please support US Senator Sherrod Brown's fight against the energy speculators. Wouldn't it be more efficient if ONLY those businesses (and other entities) that actually use crude oil would be the only ones allowed to buy oil? That however is not how it works and MOST (yes MOST) oil contracts are actually bought by investment funds (such as hedge funds, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, money-market funds, mutual funds and institutional endowment funds such as university endowment funds), banks and private investors that typically don’t even take delivery of the oil, but instead usually sell it electronically, or in hard copy, like folks sell stocks and bonds. THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE IN NEW YORK BUYING AND SELLING OIL CONTRACTS THAN IN HOUSTON!

Way too many people don’t realize how speculation unnecessarily raises commodity prices and we all suffer badly because of that.

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