Скачать или смотреть The Only ILLEGAL Commodity in America | How One Farmer Crashed the Onion Market

VIDEO DESCRIPTION

March 1956: Onions sold for 10 cents per 50-pound bag. The bags cost 15 cents. Onions had negative value. Farmers dumped millions of pounds into the Chicago River. Some committed suicide. One man—Vincent Kosuga—made $8.5 million and walked away free. This is the bizarre true story of how a 5-foot-4 onion farmer cornered 98% of America's onion supply, destroyed an entire market, and created the only commodity futures ban in U.S. history. To this day, 70 years later, trading onion futures is a federal crime.

Discover the complete story of the Onion King: Vincent Kosuga's 5,000-acre Pine Island farm in New York's Black Dirt Region, how onion futures trading began on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the 1940s, Kosuga's partnership with Sam Siegel, how they accumulated 30 million pounds of onions in Chicago warehouses, the manipulation scheme that drove prices from $2.75 to $0.10 in seven months, the Congressional testimony where Kosuga corrected senators ("I control 98%, not 97%"), President Eisenhower signing the Onion Futures Act in 1958, why Kosuga was named Pine Island Citizen of the Year despite destroying farmers, comparison to the Hunt Brothers' silver corner and GameStop, economic studies showing onion price volatility INCREASED after the ban, and why this law remains in effect today.

📊 Key Topics Covered:

The Great Onion Crash: March 1956, prices collapse 96% in 7 months
Vincent Kosuga: Catholic philanthropist, race car driver, market manipulator
Pine Island's Black Dirt Region: 13,000-year-old glacial soil perfect for onions
How the scheme worked: control 98% supply, inflate prices, sell high, short the market, profit from crash
30 million pounds of onions hoarded in Chicago warehouses
Congressional testimony: "If it's against the law to make money, then I'm guilty"
The Onion Futures Act (1958): Only commodity ban in U.S. history
Economic analysis: Did the ban actually work? (Spoiler: prices became MORE volatile)
The Jolly Onion Inn: Kosuga opened a restaurant serving onion soup after the crash
Hunt Brothers' 1980 silver corner: same playbook, bigger scale
GameStop 2021: Reddit's reverse corner against hedge funds
Legal legacy: How Kosuga's scheme changed commodity law forever
Visiting Pine Island today: what remains of the Onion King's empire
The human cost: forgotten farmers who lost everything
Market design lesson: why free markets need rules


⚠️ DISCLAIMER: This documentary presents historical events based on Congressional testimony, court records, newspaper archives, academic research, and interviews. Vincent Kosuga's market manipulation, while ethically questionable, was not prosecuted as illegal under 1950s commodity laws. The content is educational and not financial or legal advice. The Onion Futures Act (Public Law 85-839) remains in effect as of 2025. All claims are sourced from publicly available historical records.
This is one of the most bizarre and forgotten financial stories in American history. The only commodity you CANNOT legally trade futures on is onions—because of one man's audacity in 1955-1956.
💬 Question: Should onion futures still be banned 70 years later? Do you think the law helped or hurt farmers? Was Kosuga a genius or a villain? Let us know in the comments!
🔔 Subscribe to Data Guru for more deep-dive documentaries on forgotten financial history, market manipulation, and the stories that changed economic law forever.
#OnionKing #MarketManipulation #CommodityTrading #FinancialHistory #VincentKosuga #OnionFuturesBan #ChicagoMercantileExchange #Documentary #EconomicHistory #TrueStory #BizarreHistory #FinancialCrime #WallStreet #CommoditiesMarket #ForgottenHistory