Posted on 01/17/2016 7:07:15 PM PST by conservativejoy
For more than 30 years, Iowa's obsession with its ethanol fuel industry has played an outsize role in its presidential caucuses. The winner of every caucus in both parties during that period has strongly backed federal subsidies or mandates for the corn-grown fuel. That winning streak could end this year if Senator Ted Cruz takes Iowa. Polls currently show him with a narrow lead.
In 2008, Fred Thompson told me he didn't see merit in subsidizing one fuel over another, but in Iowa's GOP caucus that year "opposing ethanol was like pushing against a mountain."
Hillary Clinton voted against ethanol a total of 17 times in the U.S. Senate, saying she found it "impossible to understand why any pro-consumer, pro-health, pro-environment, anti-government member" could vote for ethanol mandates. In 2007, as she announced for president, she took a sharp turn on the Road to Des Moines and embraced ethanol. This year, she calls ethanol "a success for Iowa and much of rural America." But on the Republican side, two candidates have broken ranks. Senator Rand Paul, true to his libertarian principles, supports an immediate phase-out of subsidies.
And Cruz addressed the Iowa Agriculture Summit, run by ethanol and wind-subsidy interests, in March 2015.
His message: The federal mandate on ethanol, which has cost consumers at least $10 billion since 2007, had to end. In front of a crowd of pro-ethanol farmers and moneymen, Cruz said: "I don't think Washington should be picking winners and losers. I have every bit of faith that businesses can continue to compete, can continue to do well without having to go on bended knee to Washington asking for subsidies, asking for special favors. I think that's how we got in this problem to begin with."
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles
Cruz is the only one with the courage to stand up to the special interests on this.
Good for Cruz
Did you see this;
Ted Cruz’s Father: My Son “Anointed” To “Take Control of Society”.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3385028/posts
If you’re going to intentionally misquote an article by the DMR, why post a link to a Bloomberg blog?
Supporting ethanol because someone thinks it is a good idea even if it is not a good idea is a whole lot different than supporting ethanol because someone accepted campaign contributions. Agree?
But I did not agree with them so left them out. But I got your point.
About 5 years ago my neighbor worked for a grocery store chain, there was about 4-5 stores, and he was the manager over the different store managers.
He said the price of corn tortillas had gone up 3 fold and it had become cheaper for the illegals to buy corn tortillas here in Texas and pack them up and ship them to their families.
Can you imagine what would happen in the US if all wheat products suddenly tripped in price.
Iowa farmers should be subject to market rules like every other business. If there isn’t a market for corn without a government mandate, then they need to find another crop. It’s called business. Supporting the ethanol mandate is the same as supporting Obamacare. The government is forcing people to buy a product that is inherently less efficient and damages the engines that run it. Subsidies need to die!
I just dropped in to see how long it took for a Cruz thread to mention Trump.
Only 6 posts! You’re like the MSM - addicted.
sing along......
It’s closer to the truth to say you can’t get enough
You know you’re gonna have to face it, you’re addicted to Trump!
Ethanol will not make or break Iowa corn farmers. The Corn Belt is ideally suited to corn production. The Corn Belt was once Tall Grass Prairie. Corn is a tall grass.
Marginal production areas like Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas will switch to other crops. Iowa will continue to produce the cheapest corn in the world, in amounts that will always flirt with more than anyone needs.
Interesting, isn’t it, that a lot of keyboard experts hold that corn is so expensive that people can’t afford to eat while simultaneously holding that corn is so cheap that Third World farmers can’t afford to grow their own?
Way different. They are supposed to trade in votes. They are not supposed to trade in corrupt contributions.
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