Instead of spacious skies and amber waves of grain, Thompson looks out onto tight streets and flickering traffic lights.

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With visions of sugar plums dancing in his head, he first sees nothing but purple mountain majesties and amber waves of grain.

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The prominence given to mayors at the convention is also a reminder that, for all the amber waves of grain and frontier nostalgia, more than four out of five Americans today live in urban areas.

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Bloomberg Businessweek discussed this in an article called Amber Waves of Pain as it related to U.S. Oil Fund ( USO), U.S. Natural Gas Fund ( UNG), PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund ( DBA) and others.

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