World Perspectives

Congressional Reform; Inflation Rate

Congressional Reform The U.S. Congress is held in general low regard by the American public. Seen as petty, partisan and dysfunctional, the institution does not help itself with its operational secrecy and special privileges. Members of Congress were the first to criticize Federal Reserve Bank officials for actively trading stocks, presumably benefiting from privileged information. Yet, members of Congress are not required to place their investments in blind trusts and notably benefit from similar privileged information. Changing this cynical distinction would be a start toward a more ethical government. There is also too much secrecy in what is supposed to be a transparent institution. A coalition is now asking the Congress to systematica...

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livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

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Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.365/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.095/bushel, down $0.1125 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.6275/bushel, down $0.09 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soymeal closed at $302.4/short ton, down $1...

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From WPI Consulting

Communicating importance of value-added products

Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.

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