Short-Sighted Fedral Policy

The Food Crisis is here, and the keyword is Fertilizer. Several aspects of the Crisis, though, should be highlighted. The American Fertilizer industry has supplied American agriculture with sufficient stocks of fertilizer since the 1950s. American export of fertilizer stocks began to grow with the cheapening value of the Dollar, with Fertilizer Plants selling off traditional supplies at vast Profit; there also appearing Fertilizer industry abrogation of Contracts made with American Farmers, through the simple expedient of claiming a Shortage, and refusal to distribute their Product while insisting on a higher Price. Ethanol Subsidies probably provoked an additional 3% total demand increase for Fertilizer; a primary condition which would easily have been canceled by Overtime Production at Fertilizer plants–which never occurred. The actual Shortage of Fertilizer was multiplied by a factor of 5, due to Federal refusal to apply limits to Fertilizer Exports from the United States. The Shortage incurred doubled the functional Application Cost of applying the Fertilizer to the agricultural ground, with great impact upon Food prices in the Present and Future.

The long-foretold Recession is still not with Us, and actually, will probably not be with Us until the new Food Costs hit Us because of the increased Agriculture Costs. This means after We bin another harvest. Consumers are already limiting their Expenditures to basic Necessities, and trying valiantly to pay down their debts. Business interests are feeling good, even under the Constraints, estimating that Exports will grow to make up for any loss of American Consumer Demand. There are several dangers on this Horizon: developed Port facilities are relatively maximized at the current time, and massive increase of Exports (over 2% by Volume) will strain both Port facilities and Sea Lanes around continental waters. Transportation Fuel Costs are up drastically, and only posed to continue their rise with additional Craft on the high Seas. Business Interests estimate they can suppress Wage Demands in the global economy; they should forget their anger against Hugo Chavez, and hark back to the Movement generated by Ceseare Chavez; they must understand their vulnerability to the same Conditions afflicting the rest of the economy.

I may be the only Observer who contemplates long-term Changes brought by interruptions of Short-term Income flows. Business will pay higher Wages under striated Consumption conditions, or else will lose both Labor and Productivity. Federal absolvement of their own responsibility to maintain valid Trade conditions, will not grant them immunity from their own ruination, where their own Operating Costs will increase even faster than that of Taxpayers. The current Credit Crisis was generated by two principle means: the adverse policies of the Fed, and the Federal pattern of deficit Spending. Federal inaction in regulating Trade Conditions has incited the basic pattern of Shortages seen in the Economy–even Oil. Special Interests and Speculators believe they have engineered their own fortunes, but they only created their own Downfall (being a Billionaire means nothing, when the value of the Dollar can equal that of the Mexican Peso). lgl