Oleg Zabluda's blog
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
 
В США запрещено спекулировать луком с 1958 года. Штраф $5000.
В США запрещено спекулировать луком с 1958 года. Штраф $5000.

In the fall of 1955, Seigel and Kosuga (S&K) bought a shitload of onions and onion futures, controlling 98% of the market. They actually took delivery, and stored 14,000 metric tons of onions in Chicago. They told onion growers to buy it, по спекулятивным ценам, or else they would flood the market. As the growers began buying, S&K shorted.

Then the onions started to rot. S&K shipped them from Chicago for cleaning and back. This had an unplanned effect that the "new" shipments of onions further drove down prices. Being treacherous snakes, as they were, in March 1956, S&K flooded the markets anyhow, and drove the price of 50lb bag of onions from $2.75/bag down to 10 cents/bag. This was cheaper then the bag itself. All this onion activity caused onion shortages elsewhere in USA.

S&K made millions on the short positions, while driving many onion farmers into bankruptcy, and leaving others with huge piles of worthless grown onions, they had to pay to haul away to the dumpster.

Naturally, congress passed, and Dwight D. Eisenhower signed, the Onion Futures Act in August 1958, prohibiting onion speculation, over the objection of злопыхателей, whose only good argument was "who needs the stupid onions anyhow". 

The loss of the lucrative trading product was devastating to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Should have thought it through better, greedy bastards, before unleashing oniongeddon on the country. 

Ever since, the "experts" disagree if it increased, decreased or left unchanged onion price volatility. So there you have it.

On Jul 21, 2010, Onion Futures Act was amended by Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed by Barack Obama, adding futures on movie box office receipts to the list of prohibited commodities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_Futures_Act
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/7/13-1
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/congress-ready-put-final-nail-movie-trading-coffin-19265
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_Futures_Act

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