Word: middlemen
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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When prices move high enough, the temptation grows for even oil companies to start speculating, sometimes by selling portions of their own oil through profiteering middlemen. Last week the Saudi oil minister, Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, complained of just that tactic, and the sentiment was echoed in Caracas by Venezuelan officials. OPEC might be wise to stay silent because much of the oil that is churning through the spot market is coming not from the companies but directly from the producing states...
...some oilmen describe as a wild scramble for crude in the free market. Since mid-December the spot price has nearly doubled, to at least $22 a barrel, vs. the OPEC cartel's price of $13.34. This windfall profit for European oil companies and oil traders acting as middlemen has riled the producing nations, which once again are wielding their monopoly power. They want higher prices for all their oil. "The oil companies are making excessive profits," insists Mani Said Utaiba, the Oil Minister for the United Arab Emirates...
...coke. At each stage of dealing, the coke will be cut with substances such as procaine, lactose or?for an extra buzz ?amphetamines. When finally consumed, it may be no more than 10% pure. Martinez deals only with people he knows well. It is up to these additional middlemen, who know the right artists and hairdressers and doormen, to push it further toward the users...
...analysis is similar concerning food. The processing and packaging middlemen take three-fifths of the consumer dollar. Giant agribusiness is forcing out the family farm. Farmers leave land fallow while people starve. The government needs to break down the monopolization of the food sector, encourage production, establish grain and other reserves to assure a steady supply, and provide mechanisms for distributing the surplus to the world. Then prices would stabilize...
Most infuriating for foreign sellers are Japan's myriad nontariff, nonquota trade barriers, many of which remain firmly in place. One of the most effective hurdles is Japan's all but impenetrable, multi-layered distribution system, largely controlled by the giant trading houses. After the many middlemen take their cuts, the price of a U.S.-made refrigerator passing through the distribution network can cost the consumer up to $1,000. Government "testing" of imported autos has also been a sore point for U.S. and European carmakers, mainly because Japanese standards are often set capriciously. Says U.S. Trade Representative...