the Free Market in the 21st century

This article highlights the windfall profits that multi-national corporations are lining their pockets with while the rest of the world continues on a downfall plunge into starvation and poverty. As the supply of staple foodstuffs dwindle due to increased demand that has "partly been caused by the boom in biofuels, which require vast amounts of grain, but even more by increasing appetites for meat, especially in India and China; producing 1lb of beef in a feedlot, for example, takes 7lbs of grain." (Would we be having such a serious crisis if the Indian and Chinese kept to their religious heritages and maintained a vegetarian diet?); Giant agribussinesses reap huge profits from skyrocketing prices -

"Monsanto last month reported that its net income for the three months up to the end of February this year had more than doubled over the same period in 2007, from $543m (£275m) to $1.12bn. Its profits increased from $1.44bn to $2.22bn.

Cargill’s net earnings soared by 86 per cent from $553m to $1.030bn over the same three months. And Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world’s largest agricultural processors of soy, corn and wheat, increased its net earnings by 42 per cent in the first three months of this year from $363m to $517m. The operating profit of its grains merchandising and handling operations jumped 16-fold from $21m to $341m.

Similarly, the Mosaic Company, one of the world’s largest fertiliser companies, saw its income for the three months ending 29 February rise more than 12-fold, from $42.2m to $520.8m, on the back of a shortage of fertiliser. The prices of some kinds of fertiliser have more than tripled over the past year as demand has outstripped supply. As a result, plans to increase harvests in developing countries have been hit hard."

On Top of that, investment banks are doing the same speculating on these dwindling foodstuffs -"investment in grain and meat has increased almost fivefold to over $47bn in the past year". This excessive greed and "immoral" behavoir is downright irresponsible, and this immense wealth made off the suffering of the worlds poor should be confiscated and redirected towards solutions for the apocolyptic global food crisis. This is the same as huge profits oil companies are making off of increased oil prices while the communities of the world pay the price.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/04/8710/