this should make you mad--what the production cost of potash?

[Fransisco]

All these people not deciding to by high priced potash. Making a choice. Sounds like the free market at work to me.

[Hopperbin]

I was told by a mine employee that is still out of work. The mines still want to be able to produce fast because at a certain time of the year the more product they can produce gives them the market share from Canpotex. What is definition of Cartel?

[Fransisco]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel

A cartel is a formal (explicit) agreement among firms. It is a formal organization of producers that agree to coordinate prices and production.[1] Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products. Cartel members may agree on such matters as price fixing, total industry output, market shares, allocation of customers, allocation of territories, bid rigging, establishment of common sales agencies, and the division of profits or combination of these. The aim of such collusion is to increase individual members' profits by reducing competition. Competition laws forbid cartels. Identifying and breaking up cartels is an important part of the competition policy in most countries, although proving the existence of a cartel is rarely easy, as firms are usually not so careless as to put agreements to collude on paper.

[LWeber]

What would you call the group of 8 directors on Main Street?

They act like a drug cartel when one tries to leave or dissent - ask the former Chair..

They think they have world market power as in OPEC.

They reduce individual profit by reducing competiton.

What think?

[Fransisco]

And what would you call a group that believe they have a god given right to take control of your property.

[LWeber]

Venezuelans

[wd9]

The CWB is not a cartel, they collude with no one or price fix. They are government policy. Very different.

Good book to read is "The Informant" by Kurt Eichenwald. The story of alleged collusion and price fixing by ADM.

[LWeber]

WD9:

If you liked that book you should read "Rats in The Grain" by James Lieber.

[wd9]

Shall give it a read. Thx.

[shortround]

What does everyone think the best plan for is for purchasing fertilzer fot the 2010 crop? Fall purchase or wait longer?

[skip]

I always try to buy when no one else thinks its a good time....might want to wait a little longer. I hear fertilizer inventories are still building.