Time to batten down the hatches
From the
UK Telegraph:
Unilever chief warns over global crisis in food output
In a speech on Tuesday, Paul Polman, the chief executive of Unilever, will say that market distortions created by European Union subsidies work against the needs of the developing world.
He will also demand fewer subsidies for harmful first-generation bio-fuels and say that climate change must be tackled by companies changing to sustainable models of agriculture.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph Mr Polman said that short-term speculators were also driving up prices. "One of the main things in food inflation is that it has attracted speculators for short-term profit at the expense of people living a dignified life," Mr Polman said. "It is difficult to understand if you want to work for the long-term interests of society." He revealed he had spoken to the European Commission's commissioner for internal markets, Michel Barnier, about the issue. Mr Polman says speculators should be forced to disclose their positions.
From
Breitbart/AFP:
Oil price over $100 'not unrealistic': Iran
Oil prices crossing the 100 dollars a barrel mark is possible but would not merit an emergency meeting of OPEC, Iran's Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi who currently heads the cartel said on Sunday.
"The price of 100 dollars is not unrealistic in this situation," Mirkazemi told reporters.
"Even if the oil price crosses 100 dollars a barrel there is no need for an emergency OPEC meeting. Some OPEC members believe there is no need for an emergency meeting even if oil reaches 110 or 120 dollars a barrel."
When the dollar is worth less, the numbers needed to purchase a commodity increase...
Finally - from the
Wall Street Journal:
Hu Highlights Need for U.S.-China Cooperation, Questions Dollar
Chinese President Hu Jintao emphasized the need for cooperation with the U.S. in areas from new energy to space ahead of his visit to Washington this week, but he called the present U.S. dollar-dominated currency system a "product of the past" and highlighted moves to turn the yuan into a global currency.
When the dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency, things will get really interesting really fast.
Posted by DaveH at January 16, 2011 3:41 PM