Let them eat cake

Let them eat cake:

Global demand for grain and oilseeds is at record levels, causing the nation's grain stocks to reach critically low levels, according to Purdue University agricultural economist Chris Hurt.

With a weak U.S. dollar and global demand so high, foreign buyers are outbidding domestic buyers for American grain, Hurt said.

And somebody said "Time for the Atkins Diet." Well.... according Mr Hust, "More than 70 percent of Nebraska corn crop this year could go to ethanol production." And what do pigs and cows and chickens like? Corn!

And there's more: U.S. home prices dropped 9% in the final quarter of 2007 from a year earlier. That's the steepest decline in the 20-year history of the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index.

And more.... Gasoline prices, which for months lagged the big run-up in the price of oil, are suddenly rising quickly, with some experts fearing they could hit $4 a gallon by spring. Diesel is hitting new records daily and oil closed at an all-time high on Tuesday of $100.88 a barrel.

A little bit more..... Prices for finished energy goods — gasoline and home heating oil, for example — rose 1.5% in January, while food prices increased 1.7%, the biggest bump in four years. Over 12 months ended in January, prices for finished energy goods climbed 22.6%.

About that quote, "Let them eat cake." I'm told that Marie Antoinette never uttered the words.

But I think they're appropriate now.