After soaring for months, prices for oil, rice, and other commodities are going down. Reporter Ron Scherer discusses some good news for consumers: falling commodity prices. See more below.
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OUR RADIO SHOW UPDATE My prayers go out to my co-host Doug Basham, who had surgery on his ear yesterday. I have been on vacation for the past two weeks and will resume broadcasting next week, pending Doug's recuperation. Basham and Cornell Radio Show heard weekday mornings at 8 a.m. on 1230 AM KLAV in Las Vegas, and simulcast worldwide on the web.
If you live in Vegas you can tune in Live or go to our website and listen in the audio archives.
The Basham and Cornell Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 am Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern) on KLAV 1230 AM Radio live in Las Vegas. Again, all shows are simulcast worldwide on the Internet (and archived) and can be listened to at Basham and Cornell Radio If you've missed our show, check out the audio archives. We have interviewed John, Elizabeth and Cate Edwards, Dennis & Elizabeth Kucinich, John Dean, Pat Buchanan, NBC Bureau Chief Tel Aviv Martin Fletcher, Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage, Senators, Congressmen and women...
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MICHAEL PHELPS WINS MORE GOLD!!
American wunderkind Michael Phelps became the most successful Olympian in history with 11 gold medals after victory in the 200 metres butterfly and 4x200m relay finals at the Water Cube.
The 23-year old won his fourth gold medal of the Beijing Games in another world record performance of 1:52.03, improving on his time of 1:52.09 set at last year's world championships in Melbourne.
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RELIEF FOR CONSUMERS: PRICES FALLING
NEW YORK - After sprinting to record levels this spring, the prices for basic commodities have now fallen 20 to 30 percent.
Prices are now lower on staples such as rice, wheat, corn, and soybeans. Also down are prices for metals such as aluminum, zinc, and copper. The commodity almost everyone follows – oil – is off nearly 20 percent as well, dropping Friday to its lowest level since May 1.
Falling commodity prices have important economic implications. They may indicate that the global economy – especially in terms of the role played by fast-growing countries such as China – is beginning to slow. The prices also take some pressure off the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates to counter inflation. Last Tuesday, the Fed kept short-term rates unchanged, but it did indicate it was still concerned about inflation.
The decline in commodity prices, if it continues, could also give consumers a little more money in their wallets to pay for something other than gasoline and groceries.
"The falling prices helps shore up consumer spending and also has an effect on inflation," says Jay Bryson, global economist at Wachovia Economics Group in Charlotte, N.C. "The Fed probably does not need to tighten interest rates now."
The prospect of interest rates remaining at low levels helped ignite a significant rally in the stock market last Tuesday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 331 points. On Friday, the rally continued, with the Dow climbing 302.89 points to close the week at 11734.32.
Although it may be too soon for the falling prices to be reflected in national inflation statistics, some of them are starting to work their way through to Americans' wallets. Last week, for example, King Arthur Flour reduced the prices on four grades of its product by 15 percent. On April 1, the company, which makes premium flour, had increased prices by 46 percent. "That price increase did not cover the difference in our costs," says Michael Bittel, senior vice president and general manager of the Norwich, Vt., company. Nevertheless, King Arthur Flour went ahead with a price decrease. "We were hoping the price would come down and we could pass that reduction back to our customers," Mr. Bittel says.
Good conditions for growing crops are partly why the grain markets have dropped in price, says William Lapp, president of Advanced Economic Solutions in Omaha, Neb. "We've had frequent rain events and no persistent heat to affect yields, so the crop is off to a decent start," says Mr. Lapp, adding, "But the questions remain: Will we have a long enough growing season since it's been cooler than normal, and how much of the crop was drowned out this spring?"
On Tuesday, some of the questions will be answered when the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) gives its first official crop report. "Usually they are accurate to within about 5 percent of the crop estimate," says Lapp, a former chief economist at ConAgra Foods.
Despite the current decline in grain prices, they remain high on a historical basis. For example, corn prices are historically between $2 and $3 a bushel. They are now $5 a bushel, down from $8 a bushel. "It's kind of like calling gasoline at $3.50 a gallon cheap," Lapp says.
Rice, another key food commodity, has also declined in price. Earlier this year, rough rice was selling for as much as $25 per 100 pounds on the Chicago Board of Trade. Now, it's close to $16 per 100 pounds, a decline of 36 percent. However, it is still about 60 percent higher than it was last year at this time.
By Ron Scherer | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
MORE PHELPS:
About two thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Reagan's war on the middle class is having the expected results passing the burden of paying the bills to the middle class and poor while handing the profits to the rich.
That's the right wing version of relief .... for the rich and greedy.
ReplyDeleteBTW anybody advocating using military forces against Russia needs to listen to What Col Sam Gardiner says is the new Russian strategy for dealing with such an attack;
ReplyDeleteCOL. SAM GARDINER: Absolutely. Let me just say that if you were to rate how serious the strategic situations have been in the past few years, this would be above Iraq, this would be above Afghanistan, and this would be above Iran.
On little notice to Americans, the Russians learned at the end of the first Gulf War that they couldn’t—they didn’t think they could deal with the United States, given the value and the quality of American precision conventional weapons. The Russians put into their doctrine a statement, and have broadcast it very loudly, that if the United States were to use precision conventional weapons against Russian troops, the Russians would be forced to respond with tactical nuclear weapons. They continue to state this. They practice this in their exercise. They’ve even had exercises that very closely paralleled what went on in Ossetia, where there was an independence movement, they intervene conventionally to put down the independence movement, the United States and NATO responds with conventional air strikes, they then respond with tactical nuclear weapons.
It appears to me as if the Russians were preparing themselves to do that in this case. First of all, I think they believe the United States was going to intervene. At a news conference on Sunday, the deputy national security adviser said we have noted that the Russians have introduced two SS-21 medium-range ballistic missile launchers into South Ossetia. Now, let me say a little footnote about those. They’re both conventional and nuclear. They have a relatively small conventional warhead, however. So, the military significance, if they were to be conventional, was almost trivial compared to what the Russians could deliver with the aircraft that they were using to strike the Georgians.
I think this was a signal. I think this was an implementation on their part of their doctrine. It clearly appears as if they expected the United States to do what they had practiced in their exercises. In fact, this morning, the Russians had an air defense exercise in the southern part of Russia that borders Georgia in which they—it was practicing shooting down incursion aircraft that were incursion into Russia. They were prepared for the United States to intervene, and I think they were prepared—or at least they were wanting to show the United States that their doctrine of the use of tactical nuclear weapons, if the US attacks, was serious, and they needed to take—the United States needs to take Russia very seriously.
And his take on John McCain's comments;
ReplyDeleteCOL. SAM GARDINER: I must say that I have not heard a lot of good words from the McCain campaign about how to deal with this. It’s painful that the standard answer one gets is the testosterone-based foreign policy that we’ve seen for the last eight years. This is a very complex situation. And John McCain has said earlier that he wants to throw Russia out of the G8. That is absolutely the worst thing the United States could do. Russians have been saying—and the White House has not been listening—“We are a major player, and you have to listen to us.” This is the way the President said the Chinese are major players, and we now listen to them. The Russians have been saying that. The White House has ignored that.
At least one good thing happened this week;
ReplyDeleteFrom Haaretz, and Israeli source ....
U.S. puts brakes on Israeli plan for attack on Iran nuclear facilities
The American administration has rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel's ability to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
(snip)
The American-Israeli dispute over a military strike against Iran erupted during Bush's visit to Jerusalem in May. At the time, Bush held a private meeting on the Iranian threat with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and the Israelis presented their request for certain specific items of military equipment, along with diplomatic and security backing.
Following Bush's return to Washington, the administration studied Israel's request, and this led it to suspect that Israel was planning to attack Iran within the next few months. The Americans therefore decided to send a strong message warning it not to do so.
U.S. National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen both visited here in June and, according to the Washington Post, told senior Israeli defense officials that Iran is still far from obtaining nuclear weapons, and that an attack on Iran would undermine American interests. Therefore, they said, the U.S. would not allow Israeli planes to overfly Iraq en route to Iran.
The Americans sent a similar message to Iraq, which had objected vociferously to the idea of its air space being used for an Israeli attack on Iran.
These private messages were accompanied by a series of leaks from the Pentagon that Israel interpreted as attempts to thwart any possibility of an attack on Iran. For instance, the Americans revealed details of a major Israel Air Force exercise in the Mediterranean; they also said they doubted Israel had adequate intelligence about Iran's nuclear facilities. In addition, Mullen spoke out publicly against an attack on Iran.
Two weeks ago, Barak visited Washington for talks with his American counterpart, Robert Gates, and Vice President Richard Cheney. Both conversations focused on Iran, but the two Americans presented conflicting views: Gates vehemently opposes an attack on Iran, while Cheney is the administration's leading hawk.
Looks like Cheney lost at least for now.
The Trouble with Georgia
ReplyDeleteThe Abkhaz and the South Ossetians have made their preference very clear by applying for and being issued with a Russian passport. That's right, the majority of the present native population of these two "separatist enclaves" are bona fide citizens of the Russian Federation with all the privileges appertaining thereto. Lacking any other options, they are happy to accept protection from Russia, use Russian as their lingua franca, and fight for their right to be rid of Georgians once and for all. One of the privileges of being a Russian citizen at this stage, when Russia has recovered from its political and economic woes following the Soviet collapse, is that if some foreign entity comes and shells a settlement full of Russian citizens, you can be sure that Russia will open one amazingly huge can of whoop-ass on whoever it feels is responsible. Add to that the atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the Georgian forces, such as finishing off wounded Russian peacekeepers, [a war crime] and you can see why the normally shy and reticent Russian army might get behind the idea of making sure Georgia no longer poses a military threat to anyone. The Georgians have really done it to themselves this time, and we should all feel very sorry for them. They are not evil people, just incredibly misguided by their horrible national politicians. The West, and the US in particular, bear responsibility for enabling this bloodbath by providing them with arms, training, and encouraging them to fight for their "territorial integrity."
This, it will no doubt turn out, was the wrong thing to do. The term "Georgia's territorial integrity" has been bantered about and proffered lamely as an excuse for an untenable status quo for almost two decades now, with poor results. In the meantime, the territorial integrity of another semi-defunct state, Serbia has been sacrificed on the altar of geopolitics. Kosovo, which is Serbia's historical homeland, has been cleansed of Serbians, and alienated from Serbia proper. For those who are vague on the details of that conflict, here is a summary. Kosovo became majority-Albanian due to Albanians' higher birth rate. The Albanians then formed Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought Serbians for independence and lost. Albanians then fled en masse to Albania. The US and NATO then intervened, bombed Kosovo and Serbia, repatriated the refugees, and turned Kosovo into a UN protectorate. The next step from the West's point of view is to recognize Kosovo's independence, taking it away from Serbia forever.
If Kosovo is to Serbia as Abkhazia and South Ossetia are to Georgia, what, you might ask, is the key difference that mandates a different outcome for the latter? Well, there are quite a few (neither is Georgia's historical homeland, both fought for independence and won, both are populated by indigenous tribes rather than newcomers from across the border), but the most salient seems to be this one: Serbia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia are all BAD (aligned with Moscow) while Georgia is GOOD (aligned with the West and US, and wants to join NATO). Morality, which, I am sure, underpins Western and US foreign policy, dictates that the bad be punished, and the good rewarded. I submit to you that such self-serving logic is a political dead end, and that if senseless bloodshed is to be stopped and peace is to be restored to the Caucasus, Western and US leaders will have to activate several additional brain cells, and stop mindlessly repeating the meaningless phrase "Georgia's territorial integrity."
The Bush Justice Department definition of what a crime isn't
ReplyDelete"But not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.”
Attorney General Michael Mukasey in a speech to the American Bar Association this morning.
So breaking the law is NOT always a crime?
Mukasey's an embarrasing disgrace.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Turley said last night on Countdown that he was acting "without principal".
He's "defining" the law which is not something he is supposed to be doing.
ReplyDeleteA scant percentage of Americans know that ten days before President Kennedy was assassinated, he made a speech at Columbia University, during which he made the following statement:
ReplyDelete"The high office of the President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the American's freedom and before I leave office, I must inform the citizen of this plight."
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963
I have given a lot of thought to those words, his assassination, and what he was prevented from saying to America.
One of the things most noticeable to me since 1963 is how the Office of the President of the United States has been used to create and push bogus policy on bogus facts. History has shown that the Gulf of Tonkin incident that escalated the Vietnam war was staged by the United States.
I have repeatedly seen this nation invent enemies or even arm enemies to create a war in the future for massive defense spending initiatives. I have also seen them implement policies based on lies just so the wealthy elite can make a lot of money, stained with the blood of dead American soldiers. Yes, they also use policy by gun point to steal what belongs to others. Did you guys ever see this By Karl Schwarz
Well Clif, I wanted to believe you were right, but so far it doesn't look like it. Russia so far has not halted its advances as far as I can see.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, it looks like Bush is going to do what he always does when there is a crisis.
He's going on vacation.
Thats right. He's actually got the balls to take a TWO WEEK vacation, just AFTER spending a WEEK at the Olympics!
During a international CRISIS!
He is WITHOUT A DOUBT, the WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY!!!
THE VERY WORST!
How does he get away with this?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, another right wing dickwad has shot and killed a democrat.
ReplyDeleteThe Chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party has been shot and killed by some gun weilding a$$wipe who walked into Democratic headquarters in Arkansas and shot to death the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Bill Gwatney.
Couple weeks ago it was some inbred right wing c0cksucker shooting up a Church (Unitarian) because it was made up mostly of "liberals".
Now, some inbred peice of garbage has shot to death a family man simply because he was a democrat.
Yea, right wingers and their guns.
ReplyDeleteThey worship guns because they're too cowardly to go through life with just their fists.
Then they crack, and end up killing people.
Think about it. Columbine. Right wingers.
Oklahoma City bombing. Right wingers.
911. Hardcore right wing muslims.
MURDER is the cornerstone of the right wing.
Gee... hope I didn't offend anyone.
ReplyDelete:D
Latest on the Georgian crisis.
ReplyDeleteFor those who thought I was being over-reactive, or was wrong about Russian intentions (clif ole buddy), keep in mind Russia has not given up their offensive, and now it's moving to another level.
Check out this headline.
Russia to U.S.: Choose us or Georgia
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (CNN)27 Minutes ago
Russia pressed the United States on Wednesday to choose between "a real partnership" with Moscow or an "illusory" relationship with U.S. ally Georgia
Washington said it's sticking with Georgia.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"As to choosing, the United States has made very clear that it is standing by the democratically elected government of Georgia,"
Condoleezza Rice
WRONG answer Condie.
ReplyDeleteYou say, well, we will ALWAYS be friends and allies with Russia. But Georgia is also our friend and allie and therefore we must find a way to work with both of you to help this crisis conclude.
You don't just draw a line in the sand.
That's how world wars start.
By striking heavily in Georgia, Moscow is sending a signal to other former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine and Moldova, said Sarah Mendelson, the director of the Human Rights and Security Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
ReplyDelete"If I were a neighbor of Russia and I saw what Russia had done in Georgia, I would be very nervous," Mendelson said. "I think those countries that are leaning toward the West are very nervous today."
Anyone heard this SachaShitvilli talking smack that the US military is gonna back him up, he sounds like the little punk whining that his big brother is gonna beat up the frickin goons that are pickin on him.
ReplyDeleteYeah Bartlebee, I caught Turley last night, that fricken goon Mukasey is an embarrasing conservotard disgrace.
ReplyDeleteMcLOSER doesnt stand a chance in this election, the LOSER has no respect for women, the military or the truth, he says he's like some kinda expert on national security but the LOSER doesnt even know where these countries are.
ReplyDeleteOlberman aired a commercial from mcLOSER a few weeks ago that tried to say high gas prices are Obama's fault.
ReplyDeleteHello wasnt that senile fool mcLOSER in the senate for like a few decades and didnt he vote against alternate energy bills?
Now mcLOSER was airing commercial comparing Obama to Paris Hilton till Paris bitchslapped the senile dooche bag into next week with her own commericial.
Yay Olberman, Yay Paris, Olberman is da man.
the only way McLOSER can steal this election is if its close, i think McLOSER's gonna get stomped.
ReplyDeleteHow many frickin LOSER'S are there that are gonna vote for a deranged old fossil that has no respect for women, I mean come on the dude made a joke about a woman getting raped, his fundraising buddy said women enjoy getting raped, McLOSER traded in his crippled wife who waited loyally for his release from torture which he now agrees with for a younger model, ohh and lets not forget the moral maverick called his own frickin wife the C@#$ word.
Yeah he'll pull in the women vote, yeah right
sara said...
ReplyDeleteLooks like President Shit For Brains and his war mongering goon Dickhead Cheney are trying to start more 100 year wars that my generation will have to fight for the frickin LOSERS.
Well if they start one with Russia you won't have to worry about it lasting 100 years.
Read all about right-wing liar and lunatic Jerome Corsi on the new blog thread.
ReplyDeleteObama hits back!!
Please post on new blog thread
ReplyDeletethank you,
xoxo