Wow! The British newspaper, The Guardian, published a claim over the holiday weekend that it has obtained a confidential copy of a World Bank study that blames ethanol for 75 percent of the increase in world food costs.
Of course, since the cited report is top secret with unnamed authors, there’s no methodology or mathematics to back up this claim, which is wildly out of balance with even the highest end of prior reports.
And the math should prove to be quite interesting, given what we know about the total percentage of food prices that are attributable to raw materials. Even if you buy into the woes of poor, poor Tyson paying through the nose for chicken feed, the balance sheet still shows only about 13 percent of the supermarket costs of poultry comes from the cost of feeding birds to harvest weight.
Interesting note: the paper claims the report dates back to April, but the “leak” came just in time for the summit of the top eight industrialized nations on the issue of biofuels and the food crisis.
Call me cynical, but that makes my phony report radar go “beep.”
More interesting reporting, this time from McClatchy, that once again flies in the face of the supply-and-demand argument for spiraling oil prices.
It’s becoming increasingly clear, I think, that supply-and-demand may well be a canard of cover for the hedge funds and brokerage houses who are adroitly playing the rule-less markets.
Sen. Cantwell’s efforts are noble, albeit painfully slow. With oil prices poised to be a major incumbent negative in the coming November elections, it’ll be interesting to see if Congress answers the public call and tightens up regulations on speculators.
Sometimes a reporter’s personality comes out in a story, but often it’s not obvious how funny or interesting someone is if that person is writing a straight news story.
Take Bill Wilson. Nothing would outwardly suggest that Bill, our retail and real estate reporter, is one of the funniest people in Wichita. Frankly, with his short-sleeve shirts and little round glasses he looks more like he should be teaching eighth grade science somewhere in rural Kansas. Not that that’s a bad thing.
Bill is such a comical smart aleck with quick one-liners, we’ve started a file called “Billisms” to remember all his funny remarks. I want to share some of these with you — I really do — but as I was perusing the file for examples, I realized that they’re not really for general consumption. Not that they’re all HR violations (though there may be one or two straddling the line). It’s just that Bill — not to mention our employer — might not want them out.
Of course, if you have a tip or two to share, I might be able to trade a few Billisms via e-mail. Just let me know.
Republicans are just misunderstood, I’m told. Particularly Senate Republicans, who failed to pass a bill that would stop a 10.6 percent Medicare physician fee cut that went into effect last week.
A barrage of TV and radio ads over the holiday weekend — not to mention mass e-mailings — by groups such as the American Medical Association and the AARP are putting even more pressure on Congress to fix the problem before more doctors bow out of the government-funded program and threaten access to care for the nation’s 44 million Medicare beneficiaries.
When I wrote about this issue last week, at least one doctor asked me to find out why Sen. Sam Brownback was the only Kansas senator to vote AGAINST passing a bill that would halt the cuts. The bill failed by one vote.
So I asked Brownback’s office for an explanation. It’s not that Brownback supports the fee cuts, his press secretary Becky Ogilvie assured me. The bill that failed (although it overwhelmingly passed the House) would pay for a physician fee increase by slashing federal payments for Medicare Advantage plans, something President Bush has vowed to veto.
Instead, Brownback is more interested in a compromise bill — and one does exist — which he hopes is brought out this week as the Senate works to resolve this problem, Ogilvie said. Despite the Republican backlash over this issue, the problem really lies with the Democrats, she said. Here is more of her e-mail response to me:
“Senator Brownback strongly supports ensuring that doctors receive fair payments for treating patients in Medicare, and he has supported a bipartisan compromise that protects both doctors in Medicare and seniors in our state. Unfortunately, for political reasons, Democrats refused to allow that bill to come to a vote. Democrats also objected to both a long-term 18 month extension and a short-term 30 day extension of current law that was needed to give the Senate time to work out an agreement. Fortunately, the Administration has confirmed that they are taking steps to minimize the impact of any payment reductions past the July 1st deadline so that Congress can have another opportunity to address this situation. Senator Brownback’s first priority remains passing an agreement that the President can sign so that doctors and the seniors they serve will not be impacted by any payment cuts.”
I wonder why none of the articles mentioned that?
Ben Smith’s blog on the housing bubble, based in Arizona, is one of the most informative sites for reading on the regionalized state of the housing market.
Meanwhile, on the homefront lurks a question: When do you think the national economy will moderate enough to restore some homebuyer confidence and get both buyers and sellers back into the local market? And what will have to occur before the economy moderates?
Just got back into town last night after spending a week in Detroit and Canada visiting my mother and extended family. Here’s what’s up in Motown:
- Several City Council members are under investigation by the FBI for allegedly taking bribes
- The mayor is under indictment for perjury
- The school district is about $400 million in the hole
- Sales for the Big Three automakers for the first six months of the year were the lowest in about a decade
Oy! At least the Tigers are playing better.
Sure, Wichita has some issues. But I think we probably do more things right than wrong. Sometimes it takes a little reminding to remember that.
Interestingly, the dollar emerges stronger from the July 4 holiday this morning and oil takes a tumble, according to early reports from the commodities floor.
We apparently owe this happy development to Iran, which spoke of the spirit of compromise late last week on its nuclear program, quieting the sabres which have been rattling around that country for quite some time.
Anyone want to take bets on a more bellicose tone on Iran and nukes – perhaps as soon as today?