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Ethanol Hoax Spreads Economic Havoc
HUMAN EVENTS ^ | 03/19/2008 | Walter E. Williams

Posted on 03/19/2008 10:16:36 PM PDT by neverdem

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1 posted on 03/19/2008 10:16:37 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Yup


2 posted on 03/19/2008 10:18:54 PM PDT by BRL
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To: neverdem

We’re doomed. What insanity!


3 posted on 03/19/2008 10:22:23 PM PDT by GOPPachyderm
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To: neverdem

Yup. You expect this kind of ignorance and incompetence from Democrats, but the bozos ‘leading’ the Republican party are just as guilty, if not more so.


4 posted on 03/19/2008 10:23:36 PM PDT by LegendHasIt (Noone/Nohow '08)
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To: neverdem

Yup. You expect this kind of ignorance and incompetence from Democrats, but the bozos ‘leading’ the Republican party are just as guilty, if not more so.


5 posted on 03/19/2008 10:24:02 PM PDT by LegendHasIt (Noone/Nohow '08)
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To: neverdem

Every time they screw with the market, we get screwed.


6 posted on 03/19/2008 10:24:03 PM PDT by TheWasteLand
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To: LegendHasIt
“You expect this kind of ignorance and incompetence from Democrats, but the bozos ‘leading’ the Republican party are just as guilty”

FR also has it's share of Ethonuts, as well as Gorebal warming kooks.
Happy to say that I don't buy either one.
When man starts burning food and wasting land for fuel, he has gone over the deep end.

7 posted on 03/19/2008 10:33:04 PM PDT by AlexW (Reporting from Bratislava, Slovakia. Happy not to be back in the USA for now.)
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To: TheWasteLand
Every time they screw with the market, we get screwed.

Yup. Get the government out of the way. Leave the private sector alone. Haven't even the common folks learned from the Carter Years?

Economics courses should be required in high school and college.

8 posted on 03/19/2008 10:47:04 PM PDT by Cobra64 (www.BulletBras.net)
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To: neverdem
It's almost as if our government lacks foresight and competence...

Nah, that couldn't be...

9 posted on 03/19/2008 10:52:27 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored
It's almost as if our government lacks foresight and competence...

Your average Congressman:


10 posted on 03/19/2008 11:03:23 PM PDT by Cobra64 (www.BulletBras.net)
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To: neverdem
Same old BS!

Who eats 450# of feed-corn per year? The sky is falling! Ethanol will kill us all!

Brazil is magic, we can't do what they have done. The highly profitable ethanol plants only run on government dollars. Why invest in alternative fuels now when we can keep giving Oil barons our money and trust them to wean us off of their product. The status quo cannot be improved in my lifetime, I'll fight progress away from petroleum till I die. Make my kids drink MTBE, anything but natural safe renewable bio-fuel.

11 posted on 03/19/2008 11:03:56 PM PDT by ME-262 (Nancy Pelosi is known to the state of CA to render Viagra ineffective causing reproductive harm.)
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To: Cobra64

Crazy, but plausible theory:

1. This consumes our exportable corn, other grains don’t get planted. Other exporting countries do the same.
2. Food becomes more expensive by design. Americans can stand to pay more/eat less (this may actually do some good in the big scheme of things-go to a discount store and you will instantly feel 20 pounds lighter and five years younger).
3. Food prices go up worldwide and surpluses disappear.
4. Almost no middle eastern country can feed itself and we and other exporting countries hold the power on controlling food prices, or even its availability.

Google “grain shortages” and you will see some interesting evidence for this, particularly the fifth one. Water is pretty scarce there, too...


12 posted on 03/19/2008 11:08:10 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: Cobra64
Economics courses should be required in high school and college

Elementary School. Teach it while they're still smart enough to understand it.

13 posted on 03/19/2008 11:09:19 PM PDT by athelass (Proud Mom of a Sailor and two Marines! McCain is to conservatism as Hillary is to Playboy)
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To: Cobra64

And Hillary and Barack want to put our healthcare in those hands...


14 posted on 03/19/2008 11:13:56 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: The Antiyuppie

Very interesting - thanks for your post.


15 posted on 03/19/2008 11:46:57 PM PDT by MonicaG (Help Wanted: Conservative leadership '08)
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To: neverdem
Ethanol contains water that distillation cannot remove.

Ethanol is hydroscopic and, even if one could temporarily remove all water, it absorbs water from the surrounding atmosphere.

16 posted on 03/19/2008 11:56:37 PM PDT by Rudder (Klinton-Kool-Aid FReepers prefer spectacle over victory.)
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To: ME-262
Brazil is magic, we can't do what they have done. The highly profitable ethanol plants only run on government dollars. Why invest in alternative fuels now when we can keep giving Oil barons our money and trust them to wean us off of their product. The status quo cannot be improved in my lifetime, I'll fight progress away from petroleum till I die. Make my kids drink MTBE, anything but natural safe renewable bio-fuel.

Subsidized, corn derived ethanol doesn't make much sense, IMHO. I want energy independence. I have no problem with fuel from biomass, waste, switchgrass, etc.

17 posted on 03/20/2008 12:01:14 AM PDT by neverdem
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To: Rudder
Ethanol is hydroscopic and, even if one could temporarily remove all water, it absorbs water from the surrounding atmosphere.

The word you want is hygroscopic, from Greek meaning it absorbs moisture.

18 posted on 03/20/2008 12:19:06 AM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Right. Hygroscopic, new glasses and more coffee. Thanks.


19 posted on 03/20/2008 12:26:29 AM PDT by Rudder (Klinton-Kool-Aid FReepers prefer spectacle over victory.)
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To: neverdem
And, it takes 1,700 gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol.

Williams appears to be off by a factor of several hundred on this figure alone:

"In general, the production of ethanol consumes roughly four gallons of water for every one gallon of ethanol produced, although the figure ranges from 3.5 to 6 in Minnesota ethanol plants. This figure varies from plant to plant depending on the processes that each plant uses to produce the fuel. In general, newer plants have been growing more efficient with their water use." - link

20 posted on 03/20/2008 12:36:06 AM PDT by wideminded
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