Ed’s Thoughts

From the Missouri Newsletter

Have you noticed the poor quality of TV ads?  They are worse than usual.  It is no surprise ad agencies lose money;  I suspect they hired younger, cheaper, greener, & greenier(sic) employees.

The government is investigating the false alarm that 5 cattle might have had hoof & mouth.  The markets took a dive and may have been manipulated.  In 20 days in April live beef prices dropped 10.5%, in 28 days in March live pork prices dropped 27% according to Alan Guebert.

It has been revealed that REFCO Inc. was leaked USDA reports before the official published date.  In the middle 1980’s REFCO was fined for violating commodity contract procedures.  When we demonstrated at the CBOT in 1984, I confronted one of REFCO’s traders with that information and he said, “That is supposed to be secret how do you know?”

McDonalds plans to use New Zealand and Australian beef in the Southeast.  McDonalds claims a shortage of beef as U.S. beef prices decline.  BURGER KING, WENDY’S, and other fast food chains use foreign beef.  U.S.  Beef is safe!  Call McDonalds at 1-630-623-6228 to ask about their beef policies.  McDonalds promised West Coast vegetarians that potato fries were cooked in vegetable oil rather than animal grease and they were wrong.  Some believe that McDonalds should only be used for its bathrooms.

Does anyone really still believe that the U.S. will sell anything of worth to the Chinese masses?  China mainly buys U.S. manufacturing machines.  WTO hurts China’s 800,000,000 farmers.  China has tax riots and depression in its rural economy.  China has drought and bad dust storms.  China has planted 1,000,000 acres of apples.

ConAgra Food Inc. has a 3rd quarter profit increase of 48%.  Cargill’s 3rd quarter profits were up 63% from last year.  TNCs get corporate welfare and prey on producers for every mil possible.