Time To Make A Buck Off Fukushima?

April 1st, 2011
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The crisis in Japan is already making some speculators very rich. The third paragraph in a Bloomberg article this morning detailing the ongoing irradiation of the area surrounding the Fukushima Dai-Ichi meltdown reads as follows:

"Cattle futures surged to a record in Chicago yesterday on speculation demand for U.S. beef would increase in Japan after radiation from the stricken nuclear plant contaminated food supplies. Tyson Foods Inc., the top U.S. meat processor, said the country may increase imports."

When most of us see tragedy unfolding, we think of the impact on the lives of those involved. But there are always those savvy players who see opportunity. Look at Larry Kudlow's shockingly honest off-the-cuff remarks about the human versus economic toll immediately following the tsunami:

"The human toll here looks to be much worse than the economic toll and we can be grateful for that."



For all the heat he took over this, what went largely unsaid is how widely held his world-view has become. Listen closely to his whole statement. It never occurred to him that what he had just said was in any way wrong. Frankly, I found his apology more offensive. Oh, he was sorry he said it, alright, but it is "normal" for many in the West to view markets in a moral vacuum. We should be discussing this. But we aren't. We move along after every outbreak of war, disaster or carnage to the next exploitive media frenzy. We rarely take time to shine a light upon those who stick around to make a killing after the killing.

I have complained before about the especially predatory potential of commodities trading. The fiscal right and Libertarians in particular bristle at the suggestion that this might be prevented via some form of regulation. They live in a bubble where there is an inherently benevolent outcome of allowing the "market" to run free. Those who dare to even suggest that there are moral imperatives that demand we limit some financial activity are met with accusations of dabbling with "socialism" or even outright "Communism." I am willing to take the heat from the "free market" zealots this time.

Exploiting Fukushima for financial gain is not just flat out wrong. It's pathological.