The Attack on Prosperity: How Speculators Are Causing the Cost of Living to Skyrocket

[Newsjock]

Source: Der Spiegel

After investing in high-tech stocks and real estate loans for years, legions of speculators have now discovered commodities like oil and gas, wheat and rice. Their billions are pushing prices up to astronomical levels -- with serious consequences for ordinary people's quality of life and the global economy.

... Hardly anyone really needs gold. But oil is the lubricant of our economy. As it keeps getting more expensive, the engine of the economy begins to stall. And wheat and rice, as staple foods, are truly essential to human life. As they become more and more expensive, poor people must go hungry or, in some cases, even starve.

... This is about more than just economics. It is also an ethical and highly moral question. Much depends on the answer, including the credibility of our economic system.

Perhaps this is why there are so many voices seeking to defuse the issue and calm things down, those who admit that speculators are at work in the commodities markets, but who also insist that they have little influence over prices. And if they do have an influence, these people say, it can only be a good thing, because it will force humanity to prepare itself more quickly for the unavoidable: the growing scarcity of resources.

... But the people who are affected by rising commodity prices see it differently. "The flood of money from Wall Street and hedge funds is driving up prices -- and the effects are potentially destructive," says Tom Buis, president of the US National Farmers Union.

As prices become further removed from reality, another risk begins to grow: the development of another bubble similar to the one fueled by overinflated stock prices in the so-called New Economy. A crash would be unavoidable.

... Regardless of whether prices go up or down, speculation results in preposterous exaggerations, with real consequences for the economy.

Read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,559550,00.html
This is a very, very long report

[sharesunited]

1. Speculation on margin is just asking for a bubble.

The CFTC needs to raise margin requirements.

[Bob Dobbs]

2. Just another way to fleece the rubes.

Power elite scam to further concentrate the capital (that's why it is called capitalism, people) in an ever shrinking group of uber rich.