Category Archives: Food Prices

Will Higher Prices Show Up in the CPI?

Posted on February 24, 2011 by macromon

Great ‘toon from the Economist.  Maybe the bureaucrats can argue that the higher commodity price component of goods and services is only temporary and can be counted as a surcharge as not be be included in the inflation stats.  On … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Food Prices | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Sarkozy and G20 to Crackdown on Food Specs

Posted on February 10, 2011 by macromon

The following is an excerpt from the recently released European Commission report on commodity derivatives   The two charts, from the St. Louis Fed,  illustrate the parabolic rise in Commodity Index-Funds  over the past 8 years and the huge increase … Continue reading →

Posted in Commodities, Crude Oil, Food Prices, Policy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Peru’s Meltdown

Posted on February 7, 2011 by macromon

A  good friend from the hedge fund community and one of the best economists to have ever worked in the financial markets, and who also happens to be from Peru sent over a piece on the Andean glacier melt from … Continue reading →

Posted in Clean Tech, Commodities, Economics, Food Prices, Geopolitical, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How U.S. Income Groups Get Squeezed By Food Prices

Posted on February 2, 2011 by macromon

Take a look at the chart we’ve constructed from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics 2009 Consumer Expenditure Survey.  It conveys a sense of how Egypt’s poverty combined with the sharp rise in food prices sparked the political revolt against … Continue reading →

Posted in Commodities, Demographics, Food Prices | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Nonlinear Thinking: Egypt Needs Hydroponics

Posted on February 1, 2011 by macromon

The world seems caught in a race between a dark age Malthusian struggle for resources and a technological revolution producing advances which will help resolve the conflict of the world’s growing population and diminishing resources. Both have collided and pushed … Continue reading →

Posted in Commodities, Food Prices, Nonlinear Thinking | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Ag Prices Catch-up to Farm Values

Posted on January 31, 2011 by macromon

Here’s an interesting chart showing cropland values versus the CRB foodstuffs index.  Note how farm values were caught up in the 2004-08 real estate bubble,  increasing 58 percent while foodstuffs as measured by the CRB were up only 15 percent.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Commodities, Food Prices | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A Major Factor Driving Political Instability

Posted on January 28, 2011 by macromon

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;  Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world – W.B.  Yeats Here’s a report from India’s NDTV on the “hyperinflation” in food prices in some countries, which already is and could further destabilize regimes … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Commodities, Currency, Economics, Food Prices, Video | Tagged , , | 3 Comments