"Gold's crash this weekend is, as Oprah might say, a teachable moment. Crashes like this are a good way to find out how markets work. It's like a game of financial Clue, a way to keep sharp your skills of deduction. You don't have to be a stock investor or a math whiz to figure it out, either – you just have to have a good grasp of news and human psychology." - the Guardian on this week's crash in gold commodity prices.
posted by Slap*Happy on Apr 18, 2013 - 85 comments

"A Giant Among Giants[FP]: Glencore -- founded by famous fugitive Marc Rich [Salon] -- has cornered the market on just about everything. Now that it's going public, will its ties to dictators and spies stand up to scrutiny?" [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Jun 7, 2012 - 19 comments

From the Guardian PovertyMatters Blog : Will the meeting in Rome result in action against food speculation?.
At an emergency meeting in Rome The UN has warned of major new food crisis; environmental disasters and speculative investors are to blame for volatile food commodities markets.
The EU is to wage war against speculation in these markets.
Early in 2008 Eric Touissant, (President of CADTM) explained How the Food and Financial Crises Are Interconnected.
This July Harpers published The food bubble: How Wall Street starved millions and got away with it by Frederick Kaufman. (previously).
posted by adamvasco on Sep 24, 2010 - 12 comments

The new monetary standard: Copper.
posted by bigmusic on Apr 19, 2009 - 51 comments

Food insecurity may not be as sexy a cause as climate change, refugees or terrorism, (or bird flu for that matter) but for many people around the world, rising food prices are driving them to riot . [more inside]
posted by Megami on Apr 9, 2008 - 44 comments

The other religious riots. While much of the world's press has covered the Muslim cartoon riots, not nearly as much ink has been spilled over the continuing violence in Nigeria. A good analysis of underlying factors here. A Shell report points to oil as a proximate cause of violence as well. For oil companies, this may not be a bad thing. (If I was more interested in trolling, I'd have framed this as "Christian Leaders Fail to Condemn Religious Violence." The real world's a little more complex).
posted by klangklangston on Feb 23, 2006 - 15 comments

Gasoline price gouging reported. In the wake of yesterday's tragedies, I'm not surprised by the courage and resolve many have demonstrated. I'm also not surprised by the nauseating greed evidenced by others. What's the price of gasoline (or other goods and commodities) doing in your part of the country?
posted by Big Dave on Sep 12, 2001 - 8 comments