Food Speculation
Discipline: English 101
Type of Paper: Book/movie review
Academic Level: Undergrad. (yrs 3-4)
Paper Format: MLA
Question
Description
People have long engaged in speculation on commodities , which is a mixture of betting on the future price of goods and stock trading; speculation has been criticized for leading to questionable behavior both on the trading end and in how the producers of the commodities being speculated upon respond to supply and demand to manipulate the market for profit. When that commodity up for speculation is the food that we eat, is an ethical line being crossed?
Watch the documentary embedded below
The Food Speculator about the interaction of food , economics and political change
Watch Video
The Food Speculator
Producer: NPO/Netherlands Public Broadcasting - Copyright : 2012
$ strYtUrl https ://fod infobase.com/Portal Playlists aspx? wID= 114111 = 50425& Joid=0
Then, write a response to each of the three following prompts of approximately 200 words per prompt
1. Speculating is essentially gambling: speculators bet on the prices of important commodities in advance, and profit if they are right. What are your thoughts on the legality of this, compared to other forms of gambling?
2. Many see speculators as investors, but their investments have a disproportionate effect on actual commodities that people need (food, fuel, and so on) - is there an additional ethical concern here?
3. If you had 1000 to speculate on any food item right nowwhat would you choose and why do you think it would be a positive investment?
