Are you German Foxy? 'Cause I'm not. It may as well be in Chinese to me.

Why is it that so many are happy to live and make their money from capitalism and then try and preach the sure way to poverty (socialism). It is as bad as the likes of Gore pretending he is concerned about the environment while flying around in his private jet. If you feel so guilty about being so well off then give some away but stop being envious of those who worked hard for what they have. Mr Rudd is a sure believer in capitalism (just look at his wife).

Es scheint as ob unser Fuechschen, in Deutchland's Konjunktur
interessiet ist!

Da die EU Billionen ausgegeben hatt um Weltmaerkte fuer landwirtshaftliche Produkte zu untermeinen, koennen
moeglicherweise auch diese Steuerzahler die Hungrigen
der Welt fuettern.

Much of the press coverage of 'The food crisis' has been
sensationalist - a parading of “experts “ with the most newsworthy/ extreme views( but then, that's the norm now !)

As for, "Human needs before profit" & "Swords into ploughshares"
they're straight out of the Brothers Grimm book of Fairy tales.

There is an unpalatable fact-of-life that some people need to digest :
no country, owes any other country a living.

Commodity/Food price hikes –have been with us time immemorial – it has less to do with Western interference, and more to do with local mismanagement .

Underdeveloped countries are coming more and more to resemble their buses , equipped to carry 30 they pack on 300 and are still intent on picking up more passengers’ …, everything appears to function adequately, until they hit a pot hole or come to a hair pin bend…

One of the countries most oft cited as an example of food shortage is Egypt –it is noteworthy that Egypt can still maintain a large, well equipped modern army & send aid to insurgents !

The bleeding hearts who feel the - need to feed - are also prone
to do Mickey Mouse assessments where they seek to apportion world
resources on per capita basis -and declare any entity with more than its
share 'exploitative’ Both the Chinese & Soviets learnt that equal sharing of resources only produced a smaller output.

Yes we can, produce food for all, on a vegan 2500 calorie daily quota .
I can see it now ...us, all queuing in our standard issue, gray, chairman
Mao suits -awaiting our daily ration of water and rice -and trudging back
to our mud-brick collective farm dormitories -and oh, how EQUITABLE it
would be!

Gordon Gekko was right .
'Greed is good' -it stretches humanity .
It is only by striving to outdo each other- that we excel.
( And as our present regime is big on symbolisms - let's start by pulling down the icons of Marx & Mao & installing icons of Rockefeller, Carnegie… Gordon Gekko !)

I haven't read all the posts, but I have a story!
Many years a ago while sailing on Sydney harbor I asked the skipper how he earned a crust, I'm a "provender" he said. Ugh said I, I had seen brass plates saying provrender but didn't bother to find any more about it. He supplied food to ships and hotels and things.
When things are quiet he would buy, when shortages of potatoes existed in Sydney, a truckload, after it was loaded and on the road he had bought and sold 4 times between WA and Sydney! Making margins all the while of course. I've not forgotten after many years for I had never thought such a trade existed, particularly in food.
Those old enough will remember queuing every year for potatoes?
He never even saw them? Let alone unloaded and sold on.
fluff4

Hi ya Fluff4, I think you mean "providore". They are the middle men in the food industry that speculate and sell onto the food services sector.