bowman711

Predicting the Next Great Bubble

Why would 'global warming' hurt the food supply? Can't farmers farther north grow enough food to replace any that is lost further south due to higher summer temperatures?

It seems to me that what might be bad for the farmers in the southern U.S. should be great for the vast farms and ranches in Canada.

Commodities Meltdown as Dollar Surges

OldLimey - point well taken. Actually, it would be in the best interests of both the U.S and China to carry out any mega-exit from dollars in an orderly manner.

Commodities Meltdown as Dollar Surges

I should add that I think a more likely explaination of what is happening to commodities than trying to influence an election is this:

As everyone knows, the Chinese (and others in a similar position) hold hundreds of billions of the U.S. debt. They also see what is happening in the 'credit crisis' and that the U.S. is facing it by printing untold more dollars, thus devaluing every dollar-denominated entity already held in by the Chinese. Not wanting to see further erosion of their wealth, they have let the Fed and the Bush government know that they want out of dollars.

A sudden dumping of hundreds of billions of dollar debt would likely cause the end of the 'full faith & credit' in the U.S. dollar. [The Euro would likely take its place as the world currency.] So, to save the dollar, the Government might have made an agreement with the Chinese to supress commodities so the Chinese could exchange their dollar for commodities. The 2008 G8 Foreign Ministers Meeting was in late June, and it seems that the real attacks on commodities started a couple of weeks later. Coincidence? Maybe not.

Commodities Meltdown as Dollar Surges

As I was driving around today, I was thinking about all this 'Alice in Wonderland stuff,' this sudden seemingly inexplicable drops in commodity prices could be preparation for another FOMC rate cut. There are more and more signs of recession, which is toxic any time but especially before an election. But, the Fed can't lower interest rates at a time when everyone knows that inflation is eating away at their pocketbooks.

So, this may be a coordinated attack on anything by which the value of the dollar is commonly compared with so the Fed can say that inflation is dead - or at least in check - so they can stimulate the slowing economy with another rate cut. Few think that the Fed would cut rates next Tuesday, but how about the October 28-29 meeting? A cut then would probably send the stock market soaring . . . just a week before the U.S. election.

Just a thought.