Multinationals Make Billions In Profit Out of Growing Global Food Crisis

[FourScore]

Multinationals Make Billions In Profit Out of Growing Global Food Crisis
Speculators blamed for driving up price of basic foods as 100 million face severe hunger
by Geoffrey Lean

Giant agribusinesses are enjoying soaring earnings and profits out of the world food crisis which is driving millions of people towards starvation, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. And speculation is helping to drive the prices of basic foodstuffs out of the reach of the hungry.

The prices of wheat, corn and rice have soared over the past year driving the world’s poor - who already spend about 80 per cent of their income on food - into hunger and destitution.

The World Bank says that 100 million more people are facing severe hunger. Yet some of the world’s richest food companies are making record profits. 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.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation reports that 37 developing countries are in urgent need of food. And food riots are breaking out across the globe from Bangladesh to Burkina Faso, from China to Cameroon, and from Uzbekistan to the United Arab Emirates...

SNIP

...The revelations are bound to increase outrage over multinational companies following last week’s disclosure that Shell and BP between them recorded profits of £14bn in the first three months of the year - or £3m an hour - on the back of rising oil prices. Shell promptly attracted even greater condemnation by announcing that it was pulling out of plans to build the world’s biggest wind farm off the Kent coast...

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

[ColbertWatcher]

1. Thank you for posting this.

It seems our corporate masters are controlling any and every commodity in order to reap obscene profits.

Whodda thunk it?

Now, can we please, at long last, end this crap about ethanol causing food shortages?

Please?

[rockymountaindem]

2. What food crisis?

It appears that the only crisis was that the rich food companies weren't rich enough. Now they've solved that crisis and passed the costs along to the rest of humanity.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Well put.

And isn't that the way it is with every "crisis"?

Enron claimed an electricity crisis in California in 2001, and now the oil corporations are claiming a crisis. So, America has to send kids to Iraq, while the CEOs make millions.

I think you nailed it: the only crisis is a crisis of ego.

And humanity.

[rockymountaindem]

5. I think it's a crisis of figuring out where the next billion dollars is going to come from

Where's your sympathy for Monsanto? They've got families to feed :sarcasm:

[ColbertWatcher]

7. And do you know how much food it takes...

...to not only feed your family, but to put food on them as well?

[rockymountaindem]

11. Do I ever

I've had over-hard eggs, a tuna sandwich and some lamb chops stuck to myself since yesterday.

[ColbertWatcher]

12. How sad.

It's like hearing about that girl in Austria all over again.

*sniff*

[malaise]

3. Multinationals created this crisis

All the dumb neo-liberal policies were to facilitate multinationals controlling global food production.
None of the jackasses thought about the damage they'd create when they force governments to deregulate their economies and destroy their agricultural sectors. What's more the energy costs of flying food across the globe is a complete waste of limited energy.

Neo-liberals have fucked up this planet.

[Initech]

6. How is this not illegal?

These motherfuckers should fry for this shit.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. Libertarian "profit" first ideology. n/t

[Zhade]

10. Better still, they should be put on bread and water rations.

Let THEM feel the pinch, the heartless fucks!

[FourScore]

13. That reminds me of a great story...

Some renters in a low-income area sued their landlord for the terrible condition of his properties. They were rat and roach infested. They had sewage leaks and were basically in all kinds of horrific disrepair. The judge found the landlord guilty. He had to give his tenants back their rent, fix the building to code AND the judge sentenced him to 3 months house arrenst in one of his own buildings (before being repaired). I love that story. Now that's justice.

[Initech]

14. Ah, the ol' "what goes around comes around" strategy.

Works for me!

[Zhade]

9. ONLY TWO RECS?

COME ON!

[Triana]

15. Hillary Clinton Cozy with Monsanto Lobbyists & Front Group

Hillary's 'Rural' Meeting Actually a Powwow With Lobbyists
The Daily Iowan, October 25, 2007
Straight to the Source

In politics, the theory of "six degrees of separation" is often used to link candidates with unfavorable companies, donors, or other elected officials. The world of Washington is a small one, and many times this intricately spun web, as critical as it is to furthering an agenda, can also damage its maker. Much of the time the silky threads remain unseen, until someone comes along and shines light behind them, making the connections visible to all.

Late last week, ABC News obtained an event invitation sent out by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential-nomination campaign that asked its recipients to join "Rural Americans for Hillary" for lunch and a briefing by members of Congress and senior campaign staff. The meeting will be held not in a small town in the Hawkeye State or Ohio or Kansas but in Washington, D.C. - a strange place to discuss issues affecting rural voters. Beyond strange is awkward, a word that could be used to describe the specific address for the event - the offices of Troutman Sanders, a lobbying firm. More specifically, the lobbying firm heavily relied upon by agribusiness giant Monsanto. Monsanto leads the industry in genetic livestock breeding and Superfund violations, and it will likely see a ban this week on one of its seed types in France because of health concerns. Monsanto was promised more than $680,000 in tax breaks Monday night, courtesy of the town of Ankeny, Iowa, just for promising to bring new jobs to the area. We're guessing this isn't the photo op Rodham Clinton wants for leaflets in Iowa, exchanging ideas over coffee and sandwiches with suits rather than John Deere hats. Maybe that's why Rodham Clinton herself won't be at the event, a wise choice considering how it might look.


...

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_7940.cfm

[FourScore]

16. I can't believe this hasn't garnered more discussion. n/t

[BeHereNow]

17. There are no words...I think we all suffer from "outrage fatigue."

There comes a point when there is just nothing left to say.
Our collective powerlessness over the powers that be have
brought us to the point where we just shake our heads in silence.

BHN

[FourScore]

18. Thank you. I think you are absolutely right. n/t