[plenipotentiary]

“in futures mkts there is NO borrowing by anybody from anybody”...

With the margin you cite there has been an increase in the cash working capital requirement of the futures market in propertion to the increase in value of the commodity.

[SAJ]

Quite right. And said increase is harming the very people that the pols, other demagogues, and the illiterate lame-brain media love to demonise, namely, the producers.

Futures mkts exist to transfer risk. Producers hedge what they produce and users hedge their anticipated needs.

Run a mkt up to well over its measurable economic value, and BOTH long and short hedgers face increased strain on cash flow and working capital in order to maintain their hedges.

And hedging -- properly done of course -- saves money for **everyone** downstream from the producer.