"The agriculture, mining and oil and gas businesses are booming globally, and mining firms have been plagued by a lack of available earth-moving and subsurface mining equipment," notes Paul Tracy.

To benefit from this trend, the editor of The StreetAuthority Market Advisor recommends Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers (NYSE: RBA), the "largest auctioneer of used industrial and agricultural equipment in the world."

"The prices of wheat, soybeans, corn and other basic food commodities are surging to new multi-year highs. There are two main drivers of this trend: rising consumption of agricultural commodities in emerging markets and increased consumption of crops for biofuels production.

"The developing world is also driving demand for petroleum products and other raw materials. A building boom in China, for example, is driving demand for steel, copper and aluminum used in building construction.

"One problem holding back these industries in recent years is a shortage of equipment. Mining firms have been plagued by a lack of available earth-moving and subsurface mining equipment. And agricultural products producers need tractors, combines and other equipment that are in short supply globally to efficiently run their farms.

"I think eBay is great!" one Louisiana state senator told the New York Times. Another smiled broadly while voting for Louisiana Senate Bill 642, which exempted eBay and other internet businesses from law requiring licenses for auctioneers. It's just one indication of eBay's powerful lobbyists, working hard from California to Baton Rouge to make sure its sellers don't have to follow rules meant for pawn brokers, ticket scalpers and auction houses (despite its description of its services as "auctions").

The company, protecting its $500 million in quarterly listing fees, is acting in what the Times calls a "savvy, resourceful," "remarkably successful," "grass roots" and "not shy" manner to stop adverse legislation. Interestingly, the company uses email missives much like the one Meg Whitman sent on Friday, but on a more localized level, to engage its users in the fight against restrictive legislation.

Still more intriguing is the company's stance on legislation meant to reduce fraud on its site; according to the Times, eBay opposes anti-fraud regulations as the company "sees its online community as self-regulating."