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RE: Ontario Minimum Wage Hike Is Costing Us Money (Freedom Minute)
But don't you see? You don't push the speculators out of the market—you only push them to speculating the commodity coin price instead of/as well as the commodity price. Which they, as well as vendors, would more than likely say fuck the commodity coin and use the regular medium instead.
No commodity coin is needed to help farmers hedge against price fluctuations... Futures already do that.
Of course the USA does things differently but let me tell you about Canada. In Canada we have agricultural industries just as in the US. Our hog and beef Industries are similar to the US industry as its price is set by the futures market. We also have two industries milk and chickens which rely on a supply management system.
Just speaking about beef vs dairy, they have similar cost structures (you need land, barns and cattle). When I was young, beef producers were very flash. Each year they would buy expensive cars, swimming pools etc because they would receive a huge paycheck when they sold their steers. In contrast dairy farmers would receive a "paycheck" every month based on their production. Farmers were able to sell a set level of milk at a certain price (because of a quota they had). If they did not meet their quota, they didn't get paid. If they produced more than their quota they got paid a second rate ... which was priced at the international milk price. The rate for the quota priced was fairly determined to cover the costs and a reasonable amount of profits. Unlike the beef industry which might have huge profits some years and huge losses other years, dairy farmers were guaranteed a set price.
The problem with a supply management system from the viewpoint of a consumer was that it is a form of monopoly pricing which causes the price of milk to be slightly higher than the USA (because the farmers are being paid fairly). What this means is that the average herd size is 85 in Canada while in the USA the average herd size is 223. In other words US farmers have to milk over two and a half times the number of cows to achieve the same standard of living as Canadian farmers.
With beef farmers, because the prices fluctuate so dramatically both the man and the woman tend to have jobs (factory workers, teachers) outside of the farm. In other words they tend to supplement their farm incomes from other sources.
My point is that having a futures market is one solution but other solutions can be better.
As far as arguing about this speculators etc I am reminded of people who ask "where does the money come from". This link describes how fish are processed via a coin:
https://www.provenance.org/tracking-tuna-on-the-blockchain
Here is an image describing the process:
I am not talking about what could be, I am talking about something actually happening now ... it is just the rest of the world hasn't caught up with it yet.
Price fixing affects the whole economy. Beef farmers in the US have to produce more because there is a greater demand, but the demand side benefits because they can buy the milk at a lower price. Price fixing also prevents farmers from exploring alternatives and expanding into new markets. The market price is the fair price. Canadian farmers may get "fair pay" for their milk, but they don't end up selling nearly as much. The economy as a whole pays the price, from the farmers to the fishermen. And deferring costs can often lead to prohibitive logistical issues and debt.
Price fixing is downright criminal collusion. Also, commodity coins may be in use currently—but once people realize they don't service an actual purpose (apart from complicating ledgers), they will be abandoned. Speculation is keeping them afloat.