1972 US Russian Wheat Deal Caused Tripling of US Wheat Prices; Food Prices Increased by 29%; US Conned By the Kremlin; US Subsidized Food for Communist Russia

Tags

beef, bread, chicken, corn, cost of food, duped Americans, farm products, farm subsidies, grain exports, grain prices, Great Grain Robbery, inflation, Kissinger, Kremlin, Kremlin con-artists, pork, Russian wheat deal, Soviet Union, soybeans, US government credit, US Russian grain deal, US wheat prices, USSR, wheat

The US has coddled the con-artists in the Kremlin for over 100 years.

This deal was the result of negotiations by Putin’s long-time advisor and pal Henry Kissinger.

According to Mark Penn at the Harvard Crimson (November 16, 1973), “The 1972 U.S.-Soviet grain deal was an economic Bay of Pigs for the Nixon administration”. Henry A. Kissinger, who graduated from Harvard in 1950 “led the ill-planned and uncoordinated foray into Soviet economic policy which resulted in disastrous consequences for U.S. markets and international prestige… ”

“The Russian Wheat Deal — Hindsight vs. Foresight
by Clifton B. Luttrell
In July and August 1972, the United States sold to the Soviet Union about 440 million bushels of wheat for approximately $700 million, more than the total U.S. commercial wheat exports for the year beginning in July 1971. The sales were equivalent to 30 percent of average annual U.S. wheat production during the previous five years and more than 80 percent of the wheat used for domestic food during that period. The sales involved a series of subsidized transactions following an agreement whereby the U.S. Government made available credit of $750 million to Russia for the purchase of grains over a three-year period.1 Previously, the Russians had purchased only a relatively small quantity of U.S. farm products.

Immediately following the sales announcements, the domestic price of wheat began to rise, and within a few months the prices of feed and food grain, soybeans, and livestock turned upward and all continued to rise at a high rate during most of the next twelve months (Chart I). By year-end food prices had also turned sharply upward. The price of wheat almost tripled during the year ending in August 1973. The prices of corn and soybeans more than doubled, and the prices of steers, hogs, and broilers rose 55, 102, and 153 percent, respectively (Table I). The whole-sale price index of all farm products rose 66 percent, and the wholesale price of food increased 29 percent.2

In recent weeks most of these farm commodity prices have declined somewhat from the mid-August 1973 levels, but retail food prices have generally continued upward.

Changes in Selected Prices July 1972 — September 1973

A number of critics have attributed these sharp price increases to the Russian wheat transactions. The General Accounting Office (GAO), in a review of the sales, questioned the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) management of the wheat export subsidy program. The GAO concluded that the export subsidies were excessive and that the sales caused a dramatic rise in the price of wheat and higher consumer prices for bread and most livestock products. The press, in addition to attributing higher food prices to the subsidized sales, referred to the transactions in such terms as “the great grain robbery,” “reaping the grain harvest,” and “chaff in the great grain deal.”3….

1. Only $500 million of this credit could be outstanding at one time.
2. U.S. Department of Labor, “Wholesale Price Index” (September 1973)” Read the entire article here: https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/73/10/Russian_Oct1973.pdf

“America Gets the Shaft
By Mark J. Penn November 16, 1973, Harvard Crimson (excerpts):
“The 1972 U.S.-Soviet grain deal was an economic Bay of Pigs for the Nixon administration. Henry A. Kissinger ’50 led the ill-planned and uncoordinated foray into Soviet economic policy which resulted in disastrous consequences for U.S. markets and international prestige…

Through Soviet trade, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) wanted to reduce domestic grain stockpiles and mildly bolster farm incomes; Kissinger hoped to further cement the U.S.-Soviet political detente. The prospect of establishing Soviet dependence on the U.S. for food probably outweighed, in Kissinger’s mind, the seemingly minor economic advantages of a poorly negotiated deal…” Read the archived article here: https://web.archive.org/web/20151023164232/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1973/11/16/america-gets-the-shaft-pthe-1972/

Read more here:

“How Satellite Maps Help Prevent Another ‘Great Grain Robbery” Aug 20, 2021 https://www.nasa.gov/feature/how-satellite-maps-help-prevent-another-great-grain-robbery

“The Great Russian Grain Robbery” By Tim Aug 24, 2021 https://tmcel.substack.com/p/the-great-russian-grain-robbery

“The great Soviet grain robbery — 10 years later” By SONJA HILLGREN UPI ARCHIVES JULY 30, 1982 https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/07/30/The-great-Soviet-grain-robbery-10-years-later/5162396849600/

Related: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00875R001700020014-3.pdf