Re:Wall Street Begins Trading Water Futures as a Commodity
by triangleman on Thursday December 10, 2020 @11:41AM
(#25375494)
Don't miss the "Legal Changes" section of that article. The bubble and subsequent bust, it turns out, was caused by government meddling (at the behest of powerful economic interests, mind you).
Giving producers and consumers a way to get a standardized contract at a given point ahead in time usually makes the price of the underlying commodity much more stable.
It has been argued that the way our society operates is based on the concept of futures contracts. It all began with the Dutch tulip futures in the 17th century that stabilized flower prices and made them a viable business: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania