Vast amounts of money are flooding the world's commodities markets, driving up prices of staple foods like wheat and rice. Biofuels and droughts can't fully explain the recent food crisis -- hedge funds and small investors bear some responsibility for global hunger. The Philippines will take delivery of 500,000 tons of rice in May to address its shortage. But the price has been bid up by speculators. Not long ago, Dwight Anderson welcomed reporters with open arms. He liked to entertain them with stories from the world of big money. Anderson is a New York hedge fund manager, and as recently as last October he would talk with enthusiasm about his visits to Malaysian palm-oil plantations and Brazilian grain farms. "You could clearly see how supply was getting tight," he said. In mid-2006 Anderson was touting the "extraordinary profitability" of field crops from corn to soybeans. He was convinced that rising worldwide hunger would be synonymous with highly profitable -- and dead-certain -- investment bargains. In search of new investments, Anderson sends dozens of his employees to visit agricultural regions around the world. Back in New York, at his company's headquarters on the 27th floor of an office building high above Park Avenue, they bet on agricultural markets from Peru to Vietnam.
Vast amounts of money are flooding the world's commodities markets, driving up prices of staple foods like wheat and rice. Biofuels and droughts can't fully explain the recent food crisis -- hedge funds and small investors bear some responsibility for global hunger.
The Philippines will take delivery of 500,000 tons of rice in May to address its shortage. But the price has been bid up by speculators. Not long ago, Dwight Anderson welcomed reporters with open arms. He liked to entertain them with stories from the world of big money. Anderson is a New York hedge fund manager, and as recently as last October he would talk with enthusiasm about his visits to Malaysian palm-oil plantations and Brazilian grain farms. "You could clearly see how supply was getting tight," he said.
In mid-2006 Anderson was touting the "extraordinary profitability" of field crops from corn to soybeans. He was convinced that rising worldwide hunger would be synonymous with highly profitable -- and dead-certain -- investment bargains. In search of new investments, Anderson sends dozens of his employees to visit agricultural regions around the world. Back in New York, at his company's headquarters on the 27th floor of an office building high above Park Avenue, they bet on agricultural markets from Peru to Vietnam.
What could be more environmentally friendly than hanging out your laundry in the fresh air? Yet a growing global movement that advocates doing just that has met outrage in America from those who want to keep their neighbourhoods knicker-free. I have been meaning to have a word with my next-door neighbour in the upstate town where I have a small weekend home. A perfectly amiable retired gentleman - he used to work in the local match factory until it closed - he will insist on hanging his laundry in the garden. From our deck, we can almost read the labels on his yellowing boxers. And let me tell you, he does not shop at Calvin Klein. Bud's line is one of those double fraying cords stretching the length of his sloping garden with pulleys at each end which squeak whenever he attaches a new load. Hasn't he heard of tumble-dryers? I mean who hasn't in this day and age? At Christmas, I was almost tempted to buy him one. Is it possible, though, that it's me who needs bringing up to date, not Bud? It's taken me a while to notice, but a movement is stirring all across North America to reinstate the venerable clothesline and ditch the dryer. The clothes-peg is making a comeback (not plastic, please, but those sturdy wooden ones with springs your mother used to collect). The reason, of course, is concern about global warming.
DALLAS--In what the company is calling a "bold new leap" in comfort, convenience and overall quality of travel, Southwest Airlines announced Monday that it would be replacing its entire fleet of passenger jets and planes with daily shuttle buses. The shuttle buses, which will depart from airport runways to over 200 destinations nationwide, represent a major breakthrough in commercial aviation. "The future is now," announced Southwest CEO Gary Kelly, gesturing to a 30-foot bus painted in the company's signature red, yellow, and blue.
DALLAS--In what the company is calling a "bold new leap" in comfort, convenience and overall quality of travel, Southwest Airlines announced Monday that it would be replacing its entire fleet of passenger jets and planes with daily shuttle buses.
The shuttle buses, which will depart from airport runways to over 200 destinations nationwide, represent a major breakthrough in commercial aviation.
"The future is now," announced Southwest CEO Gary Kelly, gesturing to a 30-foot bus painted in the company's signature red, yellow, and blue.
!! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
One morning a few years ago, forensic accountant Al Vondra was driving to work on Cleveland's Interstate 77 as he always did. But this day was different. As he was driving, all four tires on his Buick LeSabre suddenly exploded. The gas tank hit the ground at 65 miles per hour, and the car came to a grinding halt. Fortunately, nothing exploded, and Vondra was able to get to the side of the road and wait for the police. At the time, Vondra was working with the U.S. Department of Justice to liquidate a $20 million portfolio owned by a group of businessmen engaged in a highly risky and, as it turns out, illegal investment scheme that had targeted retirement funds and several Amish people. The timing of the incident was so suspicious that the Justice Department attorneys on the case asked the F.B.I. to investigate.
unsung heroes? ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
