Great Grain Robbery (1972)
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Great Grain Robbery (1972)
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Re: Great Grain Robbery (1972)
#2As mentioned in this NASA training video on Remote Sensing for agriculture:
Re: Great Grain Robbery (1972)
#3While in this case, the soviets came out ahead, the deal was not inherently unfair.
It appears the price was set based on market rates on the day the deal was done. In effect, the USA just sold all the grain on that day, more than they actually had, not on the actual day of delivery. They just issued a futures contract.
Had the price of grain fallen on world markets, the soviets would have lost out.
Re: Great Grain Robbery (1972)
#4why the term robbery?
just because the seller couldn't detect a weakness on the buyer and artificially inflate the prices it is considered a robbery? Does someone who will need a car for a job or lose the house for non-payment "rob" the car dealership for not disclosing they really need that car they are purchasing at market price?
IMO, the robbery is that the business people consulted for the deal saw only the big sale and the possibility to get their costs subsidized (for what reason that was even offered by the govt?!) and they indeed made a nice profit and were not affected by the internal price hike as they were sellers, not buyers, while the US public lost 300mi subsidizing this mess and paying the higher prices. Indeed a robbery.
Re: Great Grain Robbery (1972)
#5why the term robbery? just because the seller couldn't detect a weakness on the buyer and artificially inflate the prices it is considered a robbery? Does someone who will need a car for a job or lose the house for non-payment "rob" the car dealership for not disclosing they really need that car they are purchasing at market price? IMO, the robbery is that the business people consulted for the deal saw only the big s…
“Author Martha Hamilton introduced the term as the title of Chapter VII of her book The Great American Grain Robbery & Other Stories, as part of an allegation that the U.S. government was robbing American taxpayers in order to support grain trading companies.”
Re: Great Grain Robbery (1972)
#6why the term robbery? just because the seller couldn't detect a weakness on the buyer and artificially inflate the prices it is considered a robbery? Does someone who will need a car for a job or lose the house for non-payment "rob" the car dealership for not disclosing they really need that car they are purchasing at market price? IMO, the robbery is that the business people consulted for the deal saw only the big s…
It was alleged the U.S. government was robbing American taxpayers in order to support grain trading companies by subsidising trading with the Russians.
Re: Great Grain Robbery (1972)
#7Earl Butz is a hero to most farmers because when prices shot up they made more money than they ever had in a lifetime. In Michigan navy beans shot up 700%.
I had a farmer recount to me once that he went out with a broom and got enough beans from the bottom of a grain bin to fill the trunk of his car. He told me that trunk full brought him more cash than an entire gravity box wagon the year before!
Re: Great Grain Robbery (1972)
#8why the term robbery? just because the seller couldn't detect a weakness on the buyer and artificially inflate the prices it is considered a robbery? Does someone who will need a car for a job or lose the house for non-payment "rob" the car dealership for not disclosing they really need that car they are purchasing at market price? IMO, the robbery is that the business people consulted for the deal saw only the big s…
“Author Martha Hamilton introduced the term as the title of Chapter VII of her book The Great American Grain Robbery & Other Stories, as part of an allegation that the U.S. government was robbing American taxpayers in order to support grain trading companies.”
Which in itself is a reference to a 1903 silent film The Great Train Robbery, widely considered to be the first of what we'd now recognize as an action film, and the first western.
Re: Great Grain Robbery (1972)
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Author Martha Hamilton introduced the term as the title of Chapter VII of her book The Great American Grain Robbery & Other Stories, as part of an allegation that the U.S. government was robbing American taxpayers in order to support grain trading companies.”
Which in itself is a reference to a 1903 silent film The Great Train Robbery, widely considered to be the first of what we'd now recognize as an action film, and the first western.
The wikipedia article says:
> The term Great Grain Robbery is a pun referring to the "Great Train Robbery" novel
The novel in question being a 1975 one by Michael Crichton! Being British, to me, the term refers to an infamous train robbery in 1963. I don't know if that incident is well known in the US.
Presumably, though, both those uses are references to the film.
Re: Great Grain Robbery (1972)
#10Regional food shortages can have a global ripple effect. Sound familiar?