I have been trading and analyzing commodities prices for almost four decades. In the late 1970s, a summer job at the world's leading commodities trading company turned out to be an invaluable education that would lead to a career choice. I was always interested in politics, history, and economics as a student. While I grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., I was fascinated by travel and how people live in other parts of the world. The commodities business is global as consumption is ubiquitous around the world. Production is a local affair. Metals and energy production