Originally published on author's blog on April 12.

Recent developments in the general market make it necessary for me to continue this serial article about investing in a resource constrained world. I will be talking about food, agriculture and energy related investment topics this time.

You can't read a newspaper article without reading comparisons to a past financial crisis. The conclusions will vary depending upon which time period is used for the comparison. I though it was useful to run through the similarities and differences between this and past crises. The following table outlines the comparison between the current period and three prior periods: the Great Depression, the Stagflation of the 1970s, and a recent but mild recession in 1992. I look at various key stats, particularly as they relate to the current hot button issue: are we headed for higher inflation?

The only similarity between the 1970ss and today is the surge in commodity prices and the decline in the dollar. However, these events occurred several years prior to the current crisis (since 2002), while in the '70s commodities surged while stocks declined and inflation heated up simultaneously. Commodities stayed flat during the Great Depression after a brief plunge early which reversed itself. Therefore, commodity prices do not appear to be a good indicator of recession or inflation, as they have behaved very differently in every period studied.