George Soros Making a Move to Control Food and Grain Production

National Examiner ^ | March 30, 2011 | Kenneth Schortgen, Jr

[tunedin]

Financier and progressive activist George Soros is formulating a move to control food and grain production by purchasing grain elevators in late March in several parts of the United States through his subsidiary company Gavilon Grain. With some purchases made on March 29th, Soros will become the third largest grain company behind Cargill, and Archer-Daniels Midland.

With strong ties to the Obama administration, Soros now has both the economic, and political clout to begin consolidation of purchasing and shipping domestic agriculture around the world.

[Mrs. B.S. Roberts]

food ping

[crosshairs]

I keep saying we need a Mitch Rapp to pay a visit to Spooky Dude.

[SAJ]

The increase in your 50 lb bag, 19 to 25, is 31.5%. On Sep 30, May KC Wheat (hard red winter) settled @725-4 and yesterday it settled @862-0, an increase of 18.7%. So, at first, it would seem that your feed/grain supplier is taking a hefty bite out of your backside. Ordinarily, we look at front-month futures (May, just now) for this sort of analysis.

However, when we look at the next month's futures, July here, over the Sep 30-Mar 30 time frame, we see that KC July Wheat went from 721-4 to 872-6, a 20.8% increase. When we further consider that all these prices are basis Kansas City, we have to add in the transportation differential here too. Diesel is well higher today than 6 months ago, up some 32.5% basis the May futures. Back-of-the-envelope quick calculation shows that this adds somewhere between 20 and 30 cents per bushel due to fuel markups. A 50-lb bag is somewhat smaller than a bushel, just btw.

The differential in the percentage price change from May to July over the Sep 30-Mar 30 period is a sign that wholesalers (and thus retailers in their turn) expect prices to be higher over the near term and therefore are adding what is sometimes called "anticipation cost" into their sale price. Remember that retailers (particularly) MUST price their goods not based on today's price, but on their estimated cost of replacing inventory, which figure may be modified up or down by the strength of local demand.

Add in one more factor, to wit, that most retailers don't say to themselves "I want to make $2 on this product", but instead say "I want to make X per cent on this product". As prices rise, the retailer will stretch his margin IN DOLLAR TERMS to adjust his pricing. After all, 10% of $25 is 60 cents more than 10% of $19, right?

All in all (another quickie calc, might be off somewhat, because I don't know the specific workings of your supplier's business), the 6-dollar increase that you're seeing is a trifle high, perhaps 40-60 cents, but not in any way outrageous.

As regards the Saudis buying for usage, as opposed to buying on spec, this is plausible. The Saudis have historically bought a lot from Pakistan (saves big on transport costs, true?), but may today be of the opinion that Pakistan's inherent instability may again, as in the past few years, reduce the Pakistani crop. "WAIT A MINUTE", I hear you yelling, "Pakistan can't even feed itself, don't they import a lot of US Wheat, what are they doing selling?"

Fair question. What the Pakis (again, speaking historically) have done is to buy lots of US wheat AT A SUBSIDISED PRICE...and arbitrage it by selling wheat elsewhere at the full world price. Nice game, eh -- and you can thank Uncle Sugar for setting it up that way. Your taxpayer dollars once again at hard work (barf...).

Please keep in mind that my commentary on these two subjects is CONSIDERABLY condensed; the wheat markets are much more complex than I've illustrated here. Nonetheless, I hope the commentary is of some use to you, and FReegards!

[scorchedearther]

Soros reminds me of the kind of villains one sees in a Steven Seagal movie.

[Mr. Lucky]

Farmers will tend to raise what makes them the most money. If that's corn, swell; if it's soybeans or wheat or rutabagas, that's swell too. In Indiana, the acreage planted to corn is, give or take, equal to the combined acreage planted to soybeans and soft red winter wheat. The wheat was never particularly profitable on a stand alone basis, but older tillage practices depleted soil tilth which the wheat stubble and straw tended to replenish...and the government heavily subsidized it.

Modern herbicides allow farmers to plant without tillage, or with very little, so wheat isn't that big of a deal anymore. Farmers aren't paid to grow corn vs. any other crop, the government fuel mandates and oil company tax credits raises the market price of corn and farmers grow it for that reason.

[eak3]

Whats he trying to be the next Stalin?

[Patriotic1]

There are ways to protect yourself and your loved ones from the decline of the US dollar that WILL -- make no mistake -- continue for some years

And what would you recommend??

[SAJ]

Two principal ways to start. 1) Begin moving your assets -- any you can spare -- offshore. Contrary to some popular myths, this action is entirely lawful as long as you dot the regulatory i's and cross the t's. 2) Start denominating ALL your financial assets in currencies other than the US Dollar.

At the moment, I prefer, in this order, the following currencies, rated according to A) likelihood of appreciation against US Dollar, and B) political safety and relative reliability :
1) Singapore Dollar
2) Norwegian Krone
3) Canadian Dollar
4) Australian Dollar
5) South Korean Won
6) Indian Rupee

In theory, one of the strongest currencies now is, and will be later, Brazilian Real. However, their goobermint is in the hands of an outright Marxist and the Real is therefore untrustworthy.

Be advised that, to deal in Rupee, you will need to open a bank account or brokerage account **IN** India. Again, this is entirely legal (but a bit of a pain in the a&&).

Do spread your risk around. Some assets in one ccy, some in another, some in yet a third.

One of the better books for the layman (as opposed to the professional trader) on the subject has the amusing title "Where To Stash Your Cash Legally", written by a chap named Bob Bauman. Former Congressman (not that that is itself any recommendation at all), highly knowledgeable regarding the nuts and bolts and details of shifting assets offshore and/or redenominating them.

FReegards to you!

[americanophile]

Can’t say I disagree with you.

[TXLady]

Bookmark

[American Constitutionalist]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/asia/14china.html?_r=1

[American Constitutionalist]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinas-drought-threatens-wheat-harvest-2011-02-09

[American Constitutionalist]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2011-03/29/c_13803795.htm

[American Constitutionalist]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2011-03/29/c_13803795.htm

[American Constitutionalist]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/8321368/Chinas-drought-could-have-devastating-consequences.html

[familyop]

"George Soros Making a Move to Control Food and Grain Production"

..."control?" Many other rich folks have bought large agricultural properties around the world over the past few years--even our recent President Bush. Raise a garden.

[American Constitutionalist]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2672779/posts

[Pecos]

I know how to distinguish between good nieghbors and predators. ‘Nuff said.

[La Lydia]

Thank you for that bracing blast of sanity, knowledge and reason.

[SwankyC]

The only thing in america worth a dam is our ag industry

And our ag industry is HEAVILY dependent upon petroleum based pesticides and fertilizers, not to mention petroleum for sowing, harvesting and shipping. In other words, it's only worth a tiny dam.