JoB
yes, profits are what makes business successful…
and profit could be labeled as good when there was a direct line between the product and the consumer.
that’s the point at which the free market actually works.
however, when there are too many profit centers between the product and the consumer… and no alternative markets…. the consumer pays for all of them… which drives prices up.
Speculators don’t have the same free market restraints that producer or distributors have..
their only market restraint is what other speculators will pay.. not what the end market for the product will bear…
i am not saying that the futures market is a bad thing in and of itself… in some ways it does serve a useful purpose…
but the inclusion of so many of those uninformed traders that sky2625 talks about who focus on the game and don’t understand that they are dealing with the raw materials of the world.. does impact the market… and the profit made by the producers… and your bottom line.