the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 2, 2008
Worried about rising prices at the grocery store? Profits are up among food producers and speculators–which is not a coincidence.
Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) announced in April that its profits had gone up 42%. The part of ADM that trades in grains had seen income rise seven times. There’s a very good reason: in 2006, a ton of wheat was sold on the world’s exchanges for $375. Now it is selling at more than $900 per ton. Maize (corn) went from about $250 to $560 per ton. Rice prices went from $320 a year ago to $1150 per ton today.
And, of course, it is not just ADM that makes out like a bandit. Profits at agri-businesses Cargill, John Deere, Monsanto and Mosaic were up even more than at ADM.
So is there a shortage of food? Not in the least. A headline in a Business Week story explains it all: “High food prices prompted producers to hoard, limiting supply.” The capitalist bandits don’t hold anyone up with a gun: they just hoard what they buy, waiting to extort higher prices still while people starve to death.