About Grains and Jumbo Jets

I have written in this space for over a year now, and covered subjects that some of you may not consider being relevant to expat life. That may be the case for some of you, but with globalization, we truly are all traveling on the same boat now.Some of us may live in a perpetual spring like climate while others just can’t do without those four seasons. But one thing is shared by everyone: we are all affected by world events! When the U.S. has a bad year for corn, like this past year has been, the prices of various consumer goods go up. Next year, because of the rising commodity prices for corn and soy, a huge bumper crop is forecast, and in the United States and Canada, farmers are planning on planting every available acre in these two cash producing plants. How will that affect you as a consumer in Ecuador or Argentina or anywhere else in the world?Well, first off, you may have noticed an increase in the price of staple foods over the last few months due to inflation. The rate of that dreaded inflation here in Argentina has reached 24% without any sign of slowing down. Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Australia are major grain producers, but this year has been a “La Ni?a” event, which has brought about draughts, high winds, and generally chaotic conditions for those amber waves of grain. The USDA has recently downgraded the expected harvests from these nations, meaning that the commodities markets remain volatile, keeping prices high. Now in the capitalist system, there are no checks and balances, with the exception of crude oil, which in its refined stages finds its way to the consumer. There are big fluctuations in the price of gasoline, heating oil, and diesel, but because of the enormous quantities and strong consumer pressure, their retail prices go down with the cost of crude, granted not as much as they should, but there is a compensating factor built into the equation: Consumer complaints!But back to the grain issue; in the event that the U.S. and Canada and perhaps Russia will have bumper crops next year, the price the producers, farmers, and giant agribusinesses will get from the commodities exchanges will of course be lower. But the price you will pay in the store will not go down, as the giant agribusiness brokers of the world’s food will take this opportunity to increase their bottom line for their stock holders and bonuses for their management and directors. So if you feel like you are getting screwed, welcome to the machine! You are and have been and will be screwed.Is The Behemoth of the Skies in Trouble?As I have been writing for several weeks now, there is a mounting problem of cracks being discovered in the wings of some of the 68 Airbus A-380s, the double-decker aircraft designed by the European consortium EADS. After the first round of discoveries on a Qantas 380 that was forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore after an “uncontained engine failure” (in other words, it blew up), resulting in severe damage to the aircraft, engineers discovered cracks in the wing that was on the side of the explosion. It was at the time assumed that it was stress from the accident that caused the cracks. But upon inspecting the wing on the opposite side, safety engineers discovered cracks on that side as well, which led to a low level notification to all operators of the 380 to “eventually” check all the planes in their fleet. As more defects were discovered, it became apparent that there were two different types of failures, and they were unrelated to each other. The European Air Safety Agency has finally issued an airworthiness directive upgrading the problem. (Click on this link to see what is really going on.)Airbus as always issued statements about this matter, downplaying the situation, claiming that there were no safety concerns and everything was just fine and dandy. But now with the second type of crack, it has also been revealed that the type of alloy used in the brackets may be the wrong kind for what it is being used for. Meanwhile, Qantas is assuring the flying public that the aircraft is perfectly safe to fly. After all, in all modern aircraft, there is always redundancy, which is why they have two wings – right? While trying to calm the public, the airline apparently is making plans to, or already has, grounded its entire fleet of A-380s.My personal choice is still driving my 1994 Renault 12 made here in Argentina. I just feel safer that way.Where I am Safely on the Ground with some Fine Malbec Wine.I encourage you to write to me, jamie@expatdailynews.com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel related business. My advice is based on my own experiences, and is free of charge. (Donations accepted). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.To read more of Jamie’s opinion articles, see Voices From Exile. You can also contact Jamie at jamie.douglas [at] yahoo.com

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