This is just plain wrong- greed is wonderful isn't it? Let's see: people can't afford fuel because of a dewindling supply and speculation....food is becoming increasingly hard to afford because crops and farmland are being converted to bio-fuel (See above) and now the speculators are getting in on it....gotta love it

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/bu...in&oref=slogin

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The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. ~ Ernest Hemingway ...

"When crop prices are climbing, holding inventory for future sale can yield higher profits than selling to meet current demand, for example. Or if prices diverge in different parts of the world, inventory can be shipped to the more profitable market."

I like this part

"One crop and a source of fuel for farming operations will be jatropha, an oil-seed plant useful for biofuels that is grown in sandy soil unsuitable for food production, Ms. Payne said."

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The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. ~ Ernest Hemingway ...

That is nothing new - that is partly what the futures markets are for.

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---"Why do things have to suck so bad?" a friend once asked me.
"Because space is a vacuum and that's a lot of suck." I replied.
(Actual quote)---

Are you saying capitalism is wrong? What would you replace it with?

anarchism....oh wait we're headed that way anyway

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The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. ~ Ernest Hemingway ...

I´d say the wrong crops are being converted to biofuels. In Brazil, food avalability is growing on par with biofuels.

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If you're careful enough, nothing bad or good will ever happen to you.

Yes, but that is Brazil. What about us in the developed countries? We now have to pay more realistic prices for our food. What are you going to do about that?

Well, I wouldn´t downplay Brazil´s role in the world market like you do. We are being punished by the umbrella argument that 'biofuels cause famine'. Our biofuels do not. That´s reality too.

You 'developed' folks could start by importing either biofuels or food from us lowly ones. That would be a win-win.

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If you're careful enough, nothing bad or good will ever happen to you.

Technically, part of the argument against oil here in the 'States is that too much is imported. Importing from Brazil wouldnt change that.

I personally think that that argument is pretty bad. There is a world of difference between Brazil and pretty much any OPEC country.

I agree that importing ethanol from Brazil is win-win.