The drought conditions in the Midwest show no sign of letting up, and if you believe the overwhelming amount of evidence on climate change, amounts to something approaching a new normal. So the first thing I’d say about this projection of food prices as a result of the drought is that, in a constantly warming world, this can only get worse.

It’s time to really focus on this major US drought, which has sent commodity prices for corn and soybeans soaring, leading to a likely jump in global food prices. You know it’s bad when the Financial Times gets on the case.

Speculators are a distant early warning system here, and they are telling the policymakers about an impending disaster should war with Iran come to pass.

But just because the speculators happen to be right about the impact of war with Iran on oil prices doesn’t mean that they should be given carte blanche to dominate the oil futures markets.

We know that Wall Street speculation shoulders part of the blame for rising gas prices, and that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has done little to stop it. But I didn’t know that even the weak CFTC rules established last year were being challenged in federal court. And the outcome of that court case could lead to speculation running rampant without a check from federal regulators.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi went sharply after oil speculation late yesterday, taking up a strategy to answer Republicans on rising gas prices that has not been employed much in the political sphere.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission charged one trading house and two individuals for illegally manipulating oil prices during the price spike of 2008, when oil reached $147 a barrel, by creating the appearance of a shortage to drive up the benchmark for crude. While the action covers oil trading in 2008, the connection to today, where speculation is seen as a primary cause for higher gas prices, is unmistakable.

The President actually did put together a task force to monitor speculation and fraud in the oil markets. And some Senate Democrats have made noise on this as well. Perhaps they spooked the speculators.

This is a critical moment for the unemployment crisis. After a tick downward, first-time jobless claims hiked back up last week. Increases in commodity prices like food and oil, which are tied more to global growth than inflationary by-products of monetary policy, are starting to be worthy of conversation as a net lag on the economy. The economic indicators remain mixed at best, and at the top, people still need jobs.