re: yellowcake i don't think you ever really leave the industry...

re: yellowcake i don't think you ever really leave the industry yellowcake. I decided to go into rural merchandise in the early '90's a/ because i found that the returns on farming (even back then) were pitiful relative to capital invested, b/ farming was isolating and c/the rural merc business allowed the most amazing oversight of heaps of farms. Business grew from $2 million to $14 million in just under 4 years.

At the moment i'm actively involved in a rural enterprise which hopefully will make a very big splash but i'd have to kill you if i mentioned what it was at this stage so that would be a dreadful waste.

But i have a brilliant range of friends and colleagues throughout the industry and elsewhere so its kind of gone but not forgotten.

i must say that, in the nicest possible way, its rather patronising to think that because your sitting on a farm one has some exclusive and vitally correwct insight that procludes all others.

sure things have changed (WA seems to be sinking in a dryland salt morasse for starters).

brewster, your mention of Telstra is rather interesting. but did you stop to think - its exactly that control of the market - monopoly - that allowed them to charge premiums for what they sold. And the shareholders benefited from that.

in this case its one of the highest grade wheats which competition will allow multiple sellers to undercut each other with overseas inevitably forcing the growers returns down. Fortunately they'll never know because what's left to benchmark against. Economics 101 as i kep pointing out. seems like a good idea but history says it doesn't work, thats why the monopoly is there. Also in this case the growers are the shareholders that have benefited, and the US and other competitors are the bleating vistims who want the system broken down becauuse they are the current losers.

maybe the system does breakdown and yellowcake you get to try it your way but it wont be that that will give you better returns - it will be grain prices going through the roof due to ballooning demand overseas (a 'la china) and a fair chunk of the benefitr you would have got will be syphoned off to the US instead.

(I know you think your too clever for them but history again says your wrong. sorry.)

LOL!

Cheers,