Maven: It's Not Google That's Gone Wild

Viktor Yushchenko of the Ukraine, which is a top grain exporter, halted wheat exports in the past week because of a dispute over government intervention in the market.

Protesting protests of government intervention by intervening to the point where there are no exports? Sounds a little touched, no?

The Financial Times reports stocked ships sitting idle in the Black Sea, costing big bucks.

And Hugo Chavez is certainly feeling his oats, though because of oil exports, not wheat. If anyone has acted with top-of-the-market arrogance lately, it's the Venezuelan dictator.

Speaking of oil, Vladimir Putin might run a close second. From threats about production to kissing the belly of any boy he wants, Putin is making a sight of himself.

If the business media want to superimpose the ghost of the late 1990s on a single acquisition, you'd do well to ignore it.

But anyone who sees collective craziness as a sign of a market at the end of a long run should look at the kooks loose in the international commodity markets.

We've already seen the evidence of price reversals in commodities like oil and metal --check out Alcoa's(AA Quote) brewing troubles, for all to see this morning -- which just means the downturn is for real, and has further to go.

Having declared the death of commodity markets, The Business Press Maven must move on to something we wish was behind us. But I don't think it is.

That's why I will hand out my first Business Press Maven Ronald Reagan Commemorative "There You Go Again" Award.

It will be given to a thread of business media idiocy that repeats itself year after year, losing money for unsuspecting investors.