Milk, citrus, eggs: the helpless innocent peasants in a really want to cry!

In 2008 we all remember the years, dairy farmers - orange farmers - to the egg farmers, the farmers suffered in 2008 in an unprecedented predicament, the first time against them despite its sympathy, we can hear each Days in the milk of dairy farmers do every day buried in the orange orange farmers in the day, the chicken slaughtering egg farmers are crying for it? I hope the whole of China can extend its helping hand to help them by voting these farmers are the mainstay of the Chinese, they do not, we have ample food and clothing would be no life. . . . . . Point in 2008 as soon as possible out of the farmers, agricultural products, look above the clouds dispersed and the rumors as soon as possible. From the beginning of 2006, agricultural products around the "rumors" Every year, 2006 is "poisonous watermelon" in 2007, Hainan is the "poison bananas", this year, Sichuan is also the "orange maggots." At present, for the time being put aside the "rumors" of genuine debate, the really good attention to these events were the most vulnerable people - the farmers. I have been pondering the question, the agricultural industry is very fragile and in the end how much risk? The risk of natural disasters, the risk of fluctuations in the market, there are food safety risk, the risk of rumors, which each risk is the conviction that it is the most vulnerable of our farmers, this appears to be the most powerless, helpless group. Sanlu milk powder incident, a group of black is the conscience of the brokers and companies in trouble, but has given way to dairy farmers to pay a heavy price; citrus maggots, continued to torment our orange farmers; in Hong Kong and the Mainland detected in a Brand eggs contain a large number of melamine, which you do not know how many farmers had to worry about this. Yesterday, a coincidence of opportunity, and I go to the countryside to investigate a number of leadership, is the work of others, let me direct the face of a lot of orange farmers. It is also a large rural orange, every household has a few acres, more than 10 mu, or even dozens of acres of citrus orchard, which has become the principal source of income for local farmers, has in the past few million on revenue, reaching more than 10 million . At that time, I rise to note that many farmers before the scattered piles of piles of oranges, and some seem to have been broken. In the past the busy scenes of orange transaction, it is so deserted. I am naturally an orange and farmers about the current market oranges, he became extremely sad and helpless look, "this is completely finished, really all over, what are the Sichuan 'maggots' rumors Has affected us (Hunan), and now nobody wanted is the orange, orange, the people whether you have maggots, anyway, do not buy that. "Then he told me," You may not believe that we now have orange or To 5 cents a pound, 5 cents, but still nobody wanted. Now look at the golden orange golden garden, has become a pile of waste that you are my blood, and sometimes, I really Like a cry! "He said this, I obviously felt tears in his eyes. At the grass-roots level and local government exchanges, they also worried that despite taking a lot of ways, but they can not get any results, according to their words, sometimes things in this market if there is no trust, Haonan really want to save. Some of them could not understand why the farmers are always injured? We put three rural issues are clearly and logically speaking, but who really care about, the real action. Let me be more of these on a deep understanding of the risks of agriculture, is clear evidence of agriculture is a fragile industry, is a farmer vulnerable groups. In fact, this series of rumors or behind the food crisis, there are more worthy of reflection. The first is to ensure open and transparent information, in particular to ensure the integrity of the information, to establish a strong mechanism to deal with the crisis. For example, citrus maggots, it is necessary to explicitly clear the rumors, but also clearly open around the truth, the whole are not into "maggots" This is not just the responsibility of the Government, should be the responsibility of the media. The second is to crack down on some of the middlemen and illegal enterprises, in order to help those in the food area of the law were to go bankrupt and lose everything, let them subject to heavy penalties, this can not be cut off non-food safety into their hands. They should be among the largest agricultural crisis perpetrators, milk powder inside doped melamine, to buy food, and rape inside Tukuai doped, sand, oil companies have a year to buy the rape also found a "watermelon" really They can be Xiangdechulai. The third is to support the establishment of mechanisms for risk. For agriculture, farmers, in addition to playing the role of the market, it is more important to also support the establishment of a mechanism of risk, be it natural disasters or market fluctuations, the food crisis, rumors of the crisis, and so on, should support the establishment of the mechanism is, of course, Should be for farmers. I hope our government, our media, our society, not just talking about farmers on the issue, rather than to genuine concern and support from every point drop for each start, we may be able to one day in January Years do not have to eat citrus, do not eat eggs, do not drink milk, but farmers are immeasurable suffering, they are not too innocent, too helpless, we should have this responsibility, the obligation to strive to do a good job.

AMERICA MUST LEAD A RESCUE OF EMERGING ECONOMIES

The global financial system as it is currently constituted is characterised by a pernicious asymmetry. The financial authorities of the developed countries are in charge and they will do whatever it takes to prevent the system from collapsing. They are, however, less concerned with the fate of countries at the periphery. As a result, the system provides less stability and protection for those countries than for the countries at the centre. This asymmetry – which is enshrined in the veto rights the US enjoys in the International Monetary Fund, explains why the US has been able to run up an ever-increasing current account deficit over the past quarter of a century. The so-called Washington consensus imposed strict market discipline on other countries but the US was exempt from it.
The emerging market crisis of 1997 devastated the periphery such as Indonesia, Brazil, Korea and Russia but left America unscathed. Subsequently, many peripheral countries followed sound macroeconomic policies, once again attracting large capital inflows, and in recent years have enjoyed fast economic growth. Then came the financial crisis, which originated in the US. Until recently peripheral countries such as Brazil remained largely unaffected; indeed, they benefited from the commodity boom. But after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the financial system suffered a temporary cardiac arrest and the authorities in the US and Europe resorted to desperate measures to resuscitate it. In effect, they resolved that no other big financial institution would be allowed to default and also they guaranteed depositors against losses. This had unintended adverse consequences for the peripheral countries and the authorities have been caught unawares. In recent days there has been a general flight for safety from the periphery back to the centre. Currencies have dropped against the dollar and the yen, some precipitously. Interest rates and credit default premiums have soared and stock markets crashed. Margin calls have proliferated and spread to stock markets in the US and Europe, raising the spectre of renewed panic.
The IMF is discussing a new credit facility for countries at the periphery, in contrast to the conditional credit lines that were never used because the conditions attached to them were too onerous. The new facility would carry no conditions and no stigma for countries following sound macroeconomic policies. In addition, the IMF stands ready to extend conditional credit to countries that are less well qualified. Iceland and Ukraine have already signed and Hungary is next.
The approach is right but it will be too little, too late. The maximum that could be drawn under this facility would be five times a country's quota. In the case of Brazil, for example, this would amount to $15bn, a pittance when compared with Brazil's own foreign currency reserves of more than $200bn. A much larger and more flexible package is needed to reassure markets. The central banks at the centre should open large swap lines with the central banks of qualifying countries at the periphery and countries with large foreign currency reserves, notably China, Japan, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, ought to put up a supplemental fund that could be dispersed more flexibly. There is also an urgent need for short-term and longer-term credit to enable countries with sound fiscal positions to engage in Keynesian counter-cyclical policies. Only by stimulating domestic demand can the spectre of a world-wide depression be removed.
Unfortunately the authorities are always lagging behind events; that is why the financial crisis is spinning out of control. Already it has enveloped the Gulf countries, and Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi may be too concerned with their own region to contribute to a global fund. It is time to start thinking about creating special drawing rights or some other form of international reserves on a large scale, but that is subject to American veto.
President George W. Bush has convened a G20 summit for November 15 but there is not much point in holding such a meeting unless the US is serious about supporting a global rescue effort. The US must show the way in protecting the peripheral countries against a storm that has originated in the US, if it does not want to forfeit its claim to the leadership position. Even if Mr Bush does not share this point of view, it is to be hoped the next president will – but by then the damage will be much greater.