The conservative Wall Street Journal ran a one-sided article on farmers and derivatives that is full of half truths. While there is no question farmers and ranchers use the commodity market to thrive, what they need is a stable market. The current commodity market could hardly be called stable–mostly because of deregulation, but conservatives don’t like to remind you of that.
(As a side note, and because we do have a lot of hot ranchers and farmers in our state, we give Wall Street Journal props for their picture of Jim Kreutz.)
Every farmer and rancher I know got into the business to feed, protect and fuel the world, not to trade paper. And because of reckless Wall Street trading, it’s nearly meaningless paper.
Wall Street reform requires derivatives to be traded in clearinghouses. Right now it is like the wild wild west, and anyone in business will tell you stability is key to growing markets. The Wall Street reform bill, according to the National Farmers Union, also closes loopholes that have allowed speculators to undermine the commodity markets.
One blogger, Edmund Andrew, pushed back on the hack job the Wall Street Journal did on farmers and Wall Street reform. One of his best points is:
But the (sic) doesn’t come within a country mile of delivering the goods. The story offers not one example of anybody who has been “hit” by the new legislation. It glosses over basic information about the bill that contradicts the thesis. It includes “worries” that have nothing to do with farmers, like those of a pay-day lender who frets about consumer regulations. (He probably should be worried; payday lenders charge rates that routinely top 100 percent. But that’s far afield from farmers.)
Just so we are clear, farmers and ranchers will not be the losers this week when Congress passes Wall Street reform. Wall Street will be the loser. And they should be since they cost our country at least 8 million jobs with their reckless behavior. We predict Republicans will also be the losers at the polls in November because they support reckless Wall Street behavior and are wimps. If they can’t even stand up to Wall Street, why should we trust them with anything?
The Wall Street Reform vote happens today. The final vote is expected to happen today or Friday.
If you click here you can also read some easy things to tell your friends and family to answer the question “What does Wall Street Reform mean?”
TAKE ACTION:
tweet this @senmikejohanns don’t be such a wimp. Stand up to Wall Street and vote for reform #boldnebraska
