The Damaging Links Between Food, Fuel and Finance: A Growing Threat to Food Security

Yves Smith is worried about The Damaging Links Between Food, Fuel and Finance: A Growing Threat to Food Security.

Timothy Wise notes that the speculators are moving out of energy and into agricultural products because of the decreased volatilty in the former and the increase for the latter.

However, Wise also notes price movements between the stock market, oil, and commodity have become correlated over the past decade as deregulation has accelerated and energy companies began investing in biofuels.

The biggest losers have been the poor who see more and more of their income eaten up by price increases in foodstuffs. This has, in turn, created great political instability throughout the Third World.

The crisis in Capitalism has arisen because the profits can be more readily realised through speculation rather than through productive investment.

There are not that many technologies that are ready for investment. Green energy could be the exception.