In the first half of 2008, global commodity prices, including oil, food, and metals, soared to record highs, driven by speculative investment, demand from emerging economies, and a weakening U.S. dollar. The bubble peaked in July 2008, with oil reaching $147 per barrel, before collapsing in the second half of the year as the financial crisis deepened. The crash had devastating effects on commodity-exporting countries and contributed to global food riots and political instability.

The 2008 commodities bubble was a recurring theme in the poetry and literature of the early 2000s, with writers exploring the connections between financial speculation, environmental degradation, and social justice. Poets like Gary Snyder and others wrote about the ecological and human costs of the resource boom, while the crisis inspired a wave of 'economic' poetry that critiqued the ethics of global capitalism.