The US Senate is currently debating an important financial reform bill that has the potential to rein in excessive speculation in commodities. That speculation drives up the price of food all around the world, and helped contribute to the food crisis in 2008. Some Wall Street lobbyists are working to weaken the bill, but its important for global food security that they aren’t successful. To learn more visit StopGamblingonHunger.com and watch my videos on the subject:
This is as clear an analysis of the stakes for global food security in the financial re-regulation being debated and implemented now. The US Senate notably passed a financial regulation law that includes significant restrictions on the kind of derivative trading Jayati Ghosh talks about. That provision is not in the version of the bill passed by the US House, so the political process of reconciling the two versions leaves an open invitation to the financial sector to weaken the bill by taking out the limitations on derivatives trading.