How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis

Don’t blame American appetites, rising oil prices, or genetically modified crops for rising food prices. Wall Street’s at fault for the spiraling cost of food.

Demand and supply certainly matter. But there’s another reason why food across the world has become so expensive: Wall Street greed.

It took the brilliant minds of Goldman Sachs to realize the simple truth that nothing is more valuable than our daily bread. And where there’s value, there’s money to be made. In 1991, Goldman bankers, led by their prescient president Gary Cohn, came up with a new kind of investment product, a derivative that tracked 24 raw materials, from precious metals and energy to coffee, cocoa, cattle, corn, hogs, soy, and wheat. They weighted the investment value of each element, blended and commingled the parts into sums, then reduced what had been a complicated collection of real things into a mathematical formula that could be expressed as a single manifestation, to be known henceforth as the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI).

Change was coming to the great grain exchanges of Chicago, Minneapolis, and Kansas City — which for 150 years had helped to moderate the peaks and valleys of global food prices. Farming may seem bucolic, but it is an inherently volatile industry, subject to the vicissitudes of weather, disease, and disaster. The grain futures trading system pioneered after the American Civil War by the founders of Archer Daniels Midland, General Mills, and Pillsbury helped to establish America as a financial juggernaut to rival and eventually surpass Europe. The grain markets also insulated American farmers and millers from the inherent risks of their profession. The basic idea was the "forward contract," an agreement between sellers and buyers of wheat for a reasonable bushel price — even before that bushel had been grown. Not only did a grain "future" help to keep the price of a loaf of bread at the bakery — or later, the supermarket — stable, but the market allowed farmers to hedge against lean times, and to invest in their farms and businesses. The result: Over the course of the 20th century, the real price of wheat decreased (despite a hiccup or two, particularly during the 1970s inflationary spiral), spurring the development of American agribusiness. After World War II, the United States was routinely producing a grain surplus, which became an essential element of its Cold War political, economic, and humanitarian strategies — not to mention the fact that American grain fed millions of hungry people across the world.

Futures markets traditionally included two kinds of players. On one side were the farmers, the millers, and the warehousemen, market players who have a real, physical stake in wheat. This group not only includes corn growers in Iowa or wheat farmers in Nebraska, but major multinational corporations like Pizza Hut, Kraft, Nestlé, Sara Lee, Tyson Foods, and McDonald’s — whose New York Stock Exchange shares rise and fall on their ability to bring food to peoples’ car windows, doorsteps, and supermarket shelves at competitive prices. These market participants are called "bona fide" hedgers, because they actually need to buy and sell cereals.

On the other side is the speculator. The speculator neither produces nor consumes corn or soy or wheat, and wouldn’t have a place to put the 20 tons of cereal he might buy at any given moment if ever it were delivered. Speculators make money through traditional market behavior, the arbitrage of buying low and selling high. And the physical stakeholders in grain futures have as a general rule welcomed traditional speculators to their market, for their endless stream of buy and sell orders gives the market its liquidity and provides bona fide hedgers a way to manage risk by allowing them to sell and buy just as they pleased.

But Goldman’s index perverted the symmetry of this system. The structure of the GSCI paid no heed to the centuries-old buy-sell/sell-buy patterns. This newfangled derivative product was "long only," which meant the product was constructed to buy commodities, and only buy. At the bottom of this "long-only" strategy lay an intent to transform an investment in commodities (previously the purview of specialists) into something that looked a great deal like an investment in a stock — the kind of asset class wherein anyone etc. a long artcle at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/27/how_goldman_sachs_created_the_food_crisis?page=full

supporting story-
Food Speculation: Goldman Sachs and Third World Starvation
Food Speculation: Goldman Sachs and Third World Starvation: Posted: 2010/07/05 From: Source More: Speculators set up a casino where the chips were the stomachs of millions

www.mathaba.net/news/?x=623806
p.s. to the other guy, I already shortened this as much as was practical.

This scenario is allowed because of lies and deceptions. The companies build a house of cards and take the investors for a long and profitable ride. Bubbles can be profitable if you know when it will burst. Such anomalies are not studied in college economics courses because economics is taught under the light of pure mathematics with the assumption of complete information. There is no doubt that we will experience new bubbles and suckers will be taken in and the poor will suffer once again.

A common misconception is that there is starvation in the world because there is not enough food. This is not correct. There is starvation in the world because there is an inequitable distribution of purchasing power.

As counter-intuitive as it sounds, Professor Noam Chomsky reports that when a country accepts US Foreign Aid, it results in an increase in starvation. The aid is really in the form of a loan. The loan allows corporations to exploit the local population and national resources. Ultimately, local economies are flooded with cheap, low-quality food products that drive farmers out of business and more people flock to the cities in search of jobs. Ultimately, the country loses its ability to be self-sufficient, and the country is exploited for its resources and labor. The GNP will increase, but the inequitable distribution of money causes unbelievable suffering among many.

We can never underestimate the destructive power of corporate greed.

Claudemir is the founder and president of Seeds of Dreams Institute founded in 2006 (USA) with branch in Brazil since 2010. Focus of his company is Positive Psychology applied to people and corporations.

He has over 20 years of experience in sales, training and marketing with companies like American Airlines, United Airlines and The Walt Disney Company. He started up the Disney office in Brazil (division Parks & Resorts, 1995), and in 2000, from Orlando, he was asked to lead training strategies for global markets on Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Resort Paris, and Disney Cruise Line. During his 15 years with Disney, he had the privilege to teach at Disney University and as a guest speaker at Disney Institute.

Claudemir is a journalist with two master’s degrees (Communication and Marketing) in Brazil. He taught for 4 years in the prestigious school of marketing ESPM (Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing).

In the United States, he has a master’s of science in Counseling (Family Therapy), and is working on his dissertation for his PhD in the same field, with focus on people and corporations.

He has lifetime membership with Harvard Medical School PostGraduate Association where he has taken courses on Positive Psychology; He has presented at prestigious American Psychological Association Conference; he has also published at American Counseling Association journal, and he is an active member with International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). Claudemir also publishes a monthly column entitled Positive Psychology in Portuguese.

Claudemir has trained over 200.000 people from all over the world, and speaks fluently English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
http://www.seedsofdreams.org (website)
http://www.twitter.com/seedsofdreams (twitter)

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Claudemir Oliveira é presidente e fundador do Seeds of Dreams Institute, fundada nos EUA em 2006 (com filial no Brasil desde 2010), tem mestrado (EUA) e é doutorando (EUA) em Psicoterapia (foco em Psicologia Positiva aplicada a pessoas e corporações). Psicologia Positiva é um movimento de “investigação” de aspectos positivos dos seres humanos, em oposição à psicologia tradicional e sua ênfase nos problemas.
Tem mais de 20 anos de experiência em marketing, vendas e treinamento, em empresas como American Airlines, United Airlines e The Walt Disney Company, onde abriu, no Brasil (1995), a divisão Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Em 2000, foi transferido para os Estados Unidos, onde, por dez anos, foi responsável por desenvolvimento de estratégias de treinamento global para os parques Walt Disney World Resort (Flórida), Disneyland Resort (Califórnia), Disneyland Resort Paris (França), além do Disney Cruise Line (cruzeiros) e mais de 30,000 quartos de hotéis da empresa. Tem muito orgulho de ter sido professor da Disney University, além de professor convidado do Disney Institute. Já treinou mais de 200.000 pessoas da América Latina, Europa e Ásia. Vive em Orlando, Flórida.

http://www.seedsofdreams.org (website)
http://www.twitter.com/seedsofdreams (twitter)
Contato Palestras no Brasil:
http://www.sandrapaschoal.com.br/palestrante_parceiro.asp?id=506

Duration : 0:5:35

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Your job approval rating bespeaks your performance. How can you in your right mind run for President while you bring nothing to the table nor fight for justice and the rule of LAW ON THE BOOKS already!
Look at the corruption you allow and take part in.
You are clearly out of touch with the majority of USA’s Citizens nor identify with their plight stonewalling Congress.
You accepted pay raises while you clearly have MORE THAN ENOUGH which proves what kind of people you are.
You behave like overpaid, over-insured spoiled brats wreaking havoc upon this great country "BECAUSE YOU CAN" while allowing the Constitution to be manipulated for Corporate and your own political benefit.
Allowing Corporations to take in windfall tax rebates.
Allow Oil Companies/Markets to commit treason during a time of MULTIPLE WARS making windfall profits DURING the second most critical economic downturn in history!
Have a disregard for the LAWS ON THE BOOKS by not enforcing them nor even trying.

You do however qualify for Committing TREASON upon
this great Country of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA!

MOST SINCERELY,

Bill

Uhm, I do not think I am qualified to be president, not have I done any of the things you listed in your rant.

u57ww/0.jpg” align=”left”/>Two: The Engineering of Consent
Tuesday 30 April 7pm-8pm

The programme explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud’s ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses.

Politicians and planners came to believe Freud’s underlying premise – that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires and fears. They were convinced that it was the unleashing of these instincts that had led to the barbarism of Nazi Germany. To stop it ever happening again they set out to find ways to control this hidden enemy within the human mind.

Sigmund Freud’s daughter, Anna, and his nephew, Edward Bernays, provided the centrepiece philosophy. The US government, big business, and the CIA used their ideas to develop techniques to manage and control the minds of the American people. But this was not a cynical exercise in manipulation. Those in power believed that the only way to make democracy work and create a stable society was to repress the savage barbarism that lurked just under the surface of normal American life.

THE CENTURY OF THE SELF
Monday 29 April – Thursday 2 May 2002 7pm-8pm

Adam Curtis’ acclaimed series examines the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty.

To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?

The Freud dynasty is at the heart of this compelling social history. Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis; Edward Bernays, who invented public relations; Anna Freud, Sigmund’s devoted daughter; and present-day PR guru and Sigmund’s great grandson, Matthew Freud.

Sigmund Freud’s work into the bubbling and murky world of the subconscious changed the world. By introducing a technique to probe the unconscious mind, Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses. Unwittingly, his work served as the precursor to a world full of political spin doctors, marketing moguls, and society’s belief that the pursuit of satisfaction and happiness is man’s ultimate goal.

Duration : 0:58:38

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Technorati Tags: 02, century, Consent, Engineering, of, Self, the

Adam Curtis’ acclaimed series examines the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty. This series is a MUST SEE for all those who want to know the truth about the use of subliminal manipulation of the subconscious to induce the “buying of products” – be they consumer goods, policies, or politicians.
,,,and ultimately the creation of “false flag” operations to induce the “nightmares” [nexuses of evil, terrorism, etc.] needed to maintain the allegience to these “products” that only a common enemy can achieve…

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Creator, Adam Curtis, has graciously made this BBC series available for download in various formats at Internet Archive here:

http://www.archive.org/details/AdamCurtis_TheCenturyOfTheSelf

SERIES DETAIL:

To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?

The Freud dynasty is at the heart of this compelling social history. Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis; Edward Bernays, who invented public relations; Anna Freud, Sigmund’s devoted daughter; and present-day PR guru and Sigmund’s great grandson, Matthew Freud.

Sigmund Freud’s work into the bubbling and murky world of the subconscious changed the world. By introducing a technique to probe the unconscious mind, Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses. Unwittingly, his work served as the precursor to a world full of political spin doctors, marketing moguls, and society’s belief that the pursuit of satisfaction and happiness is man’s ultimate goal.

EPISODE DETAIL: There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

In the 1960s, a radical group of psychotherapists challenged the influence of Freudian ideas in America. They were inspired by the ideas of Wilhelm Reich, a pupil of Freud’s, who had turned against him and was hated by the Freud family. He believed that the inner self did not need to be repressed and controlled. It should be encouraged to express itself.

Out of this came a political movement that sought to create new beings free of the psychological conformity that had been implanted in people’s minds by business and politics.

This episode shows how this rapidly developed in America through self-help movements like Werber Erhard’s Erhard Seminar Training – into the irresistible rise of the expressive self: the Me Generation.

But the American corporations soon realised that this new self was not a threat but their greatest opportunity. It was in their interest to encourage people to feel they were unique individuals and then sell them ways to express that individuality. To do this they turned to techniques developed by Freudian psychoanalysts to read the inner desires of the new self.

Duration : 0:58:40

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Technorati Tags: 1984, Adam Curtis, america, BBC, Bill Clinton, brainwash, britain, business, century of self, child psychology, corporations governments, democracy, documentary, Edward Bernays, focus group, George Orwell, happiness machines, illuminati, inner desires, journalism, manipulation, marketing, Matthew Freud, mind control, Nazi Germany, New Labour, new world order, nwo, politicians, politics, psychoanalysis, psychoanalysts, public relations, Sigmund Freud, Tony Blair, Wilhelm Reich

Learn how to use the vast Google Network including TV, audio and print to reach your target audiences and increase traffic.

Duration : 0:27:16

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Technorati Tags: Advertising, adwords, audio, google, internet, marketers, online, playbook, print, television, tv