This it the slimes, they don't use one.
Posted on 04/23/2008 10:25:32 PM PDT by neverdem
Fads come fast and furious in our viral age, and the reactions to them can be equally ferocious. That’s what we’re seeing right now with biofuels, which everyone loved until everyone decided they were the worst thing since the Black Death.
Where fuel distilled from plant matter was once hailed as an answer to everything from global warming to the geo-strategic power shift favoring repressive one-pipeline oil states, its now a “scam” and “part of the problem,” according to Time magazine. Ethanol has turned awful.
The supposed crimes of biofuels are manifold. They’re behind soaring global commodity prices, the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, increased rather than diminished greenhouse gases, food riots in Haiti, Indonesian deforestation and, no doubt, your mother-in-law’s toothache.
Most of this, to borrow a farm image, is hogwash and bilge.
I’ll grant that the fashion for biofuels led to excess, and that some...
--snip--
What sense does it make to have a surplus of environmentally friendly Brazilian sugar-based ethanol with a yield eight times higher than U.S. corn ethanol and zero impact on food prices being kept from an American market by a tariff of 54 cents on a gallon while Iowan corn ethanol gets a subsidy?
“It would make a lot more sense to drop the tariff, drop the subsidy, and allow Brazilian ethanol into the United States,” said Philippe Reichstul, the chief executive of a biofuel company in São Paulo. “Pressure on U.S. land will be slashed.”
The United States and Europe should maintain their biofuel targets. Pressure to scrap a European plan for renewable fuels to supply a tenth of all vehicle fuel by 2020 must be resisted while rethinking the policies that favor the wrong biofuels.
The real scam lies in developed world protectionism and skewed subsidies, not the biofuel idea.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This it the slimes, they don't use one.
I never loved biofuels, I always knew they would inevitably lead to more deforestation and food shortages (all while increasing the amount of CO2 in the air that they were supposed to supplant) - it’s only know that it seems everyone else has caught on.
Sunspots and a possible new ice age (updated) McRino must be flipped on the global warming scam.
The Environmentalists' Real Agenda is to end capitalism.
Clueless in America This is the printer friendly version.
Clueless in America Here's the thread for comments on horror stats from education hell, aka US public schools.
From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
I’d love to see Al Gore brought up on charges by the World Court of perpetrating a fraud that caused worldwide food shortages, oil shortages and worldwide panic.
I agree with many points in this article. Except that, as usual, no one can get it through their thick heads that the corn used to make ethanol is processed to remove starch, and then is fed to cattle; losing little of its feed value.
So, the specious claim about this-or-that being much more efficient is simply tossed about as a political football. In this case, by (shocking!) a guy from Brazil promoting sugar ethanol.
I have no problem with him doing this.
However, insinuating that the corn is simply being used up is a flat-out lie; always has been; always will be. As is the idea that the production of ethanol consumes more energy that it yields.
At least this reporter understands that the true driving forces behind food prices are oil, and the declining dollar. Kudos to him for that.
Not after, but simultaneously with becoming an energy exporter and energy technology exporter as soon as possible after becoming energy independent. Our exports are too meager. Our current accounts deficit, aka trade deficit, should be a national scandal. We are only printing money that nobody wants. That's why we are seeing the dollar drop like a rock. We need to export energy to undermine the oil and gas markets of our adversaries.
What is being done NOW bears no resemblance to honesty and sensibility in economics, and DOES contribute to higher food prices. I will grant that other factors have contributed, too, but the moronic drive to burn corn is a very significant factor in higher food prices worldwide, and now, deaths worldwide.
Don’t be over dramatic. The dollar is NOT “dropping like a rock”. There is a slow, steady, sensible change in its valuation. Other currencies have suffered much worse devaluations, and indeed, the US dollar has suffered worse periods in the past.
What is occurring right now is a long overdue correction in the valuation of the dollar. This will eventually lead to a stronger US economy as our exports become more competitive worldwide, and investment and travel within the US is encouraged, and other macroeconomic factors take hold. Personally, though I’m feeling the pain of the gasoline pricing and somewhat higher food prices at the shelf, I’m not at all unhappy about the dollar’s correction ... especially with respect to the RedChinese currency, whatever that thing is called nowadays, but also to the euro. This is all to the good and eventual wellbeing of our country.
Thanks for taking the trouble to read it. It’s the NY Times. It can be so frustrating to post as a source. I’m so tired of reading, “I stopped reading right there.” It’s like everything that they write must be wrong. Meanwhile, so many other sources have a leftward bias. It must be over 90 percent. Just finding fair stuff is hard enough.
Bright side: at four bucks a gallon, somebody's gonna introduce a whole new way to get your wagon down the road. I'm going long on hay.
You got it. Plus, it creates a direct global investment opportunity backed by the treasury, meaning it fixes the banking problem as well.
Every time you see one of them hipeye type's cars that have bumper stickers declaring their support for biofuel, stop and pour some sugar/corn syrup/molasses into their fuel tank!
About five pounds per tank should do it!
Tell that to the folks (hoarders) trying to stuff two or three bags of rice into their carts at Sam's Club or Costco.
If the despots of the world cannot provide for their people without "free" food courtesy of the American farmer and taxpayers, I simply do not know what to say. You do realize that the farm "subsidies" were always about that, I hope. Cheap food for you; free food for our politicians to distribute. We still have corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans for sale...they can buy them if they want.
We, like any other business, made new markets for ourselves. If you think it is just biofuels, you are sadly mistaken.
You should be VERY happy about that; the free market and all. I certainly hope that you are not going to make the ridiculous argument that we have some obligation to "feed the world" at the expense of our well-being. We will be more than happy to go back to doing that, if you provide a profit margin that is commensurate with our expertise and risks. That hasn't been the case in a couple of decades...so here we are. I know that the WSJ types like slave labor that can easily be ordered around; we don't fit the mold...sorry. I also find it highly amusing that the same people that simply love outsourcing to CHINA, that bastion of human rights (LOL), are suddenly concerned about worldwide starvation.
In any event, we, in the "new" ag business will soon come up with corn and soybeans that have higher yields to fill all of these needs....that has pretty much always been the plan.
Had the dollar not dropped precipitously, and the price of oil (subsequently) skyrocketed, we would have had the few years that we will need to accommodate increased usage. We had no control over that part of the equation.
And, make NO mistake, that is the major factor in the higher grain prices. We need diesel to plant, fertilizer is comprised of petroleum products, every level of the food chain has transportation and energy costs. That is the main culprit, here.
The prices are reflecting the increased production costs for 2008; it may just get worse if oil continues to rise.
do we have a world court yet?
It sounds like it would be an awful place.
I am pretty tired of hearing about all the BS in the entire globe. It is not natural and it is freaking out a lot of people in our country.
Our american ancestors were lucky because they did not have global media and didn’t have to hear all of this global bellyaching.
OK, I'll tell them that; as I would be joining them.
I have no idea what is going to happen over the next few months; but if the price of oil stays where it is, things will get worse.
The projected cost of our petroleum-based fertilizer for this Fall (for the '09) crop is four times what it was this year...and that was a ridiculous price at the time.
If we have a weather problem that significantly reduces the yields of any grain crop; I have no idea what might happen.
Just to dispel the ludicrous notion that we "eat" the type of corn that we grow (which is largely fed to livestock); we will not be stockpiling our own corn or soybeans.
We will, however, be planting a large crop of sweet corn; and a good-sized garden. Canning and freezing food can be fun...trust me! And, get to know your local farmer...they would much rather sell chickens, eggs, pork, and beef to you directly.
Try actually looking up the facts sometime. Bio fuel production does NOT take anything away from human food consumption, and is not behind commodity price hikes. Hor example, less than 1% of corn grown grown in the USA is used for human food consumption. In 2006 alone, we dumped 10 million tons of it because it went unsold. Most of the corn grown is used for animal feed, and the by product of ethanol product IS animal feed.
The USA is NOT a major food exporting country which "feeds the poor" all over the world. In fact, we import 74% of our food, and end up throwing more than half of that away.
What drives up commondity prices is the cost of growing them. fuel, fertilizer and machinery. Fertilizer alone had TROPLED in cost over last year, plus there is a shortage. Fuel prices have more than doubled, and machinery costs are out of this world.
Then there's the cost of transporting that commodity several times, from traders to brokers to food processors to grocery stores. Get who pays the fuel costs...
Even with wheat at $8 a bushel, farmers STILL aren't making any money, and are heavily subsidized. Just imagine what food would cost if subsidies were removed and farmers were paid for what it really costs to grow crops.
Oh and another thing, co2 is not a pollutant, Bio fuels are very clean burning. All that money spent making it and buying stays in America, not in some Arabs pocket. It will one day result in much less oil importing, eliminate farm subsidies and create a lot of American jobs.
It is all around good for America, which is why the left suddenly doesn't like it, and are spreading around food shortage scare stories to make you not like it either. They don't want you to drive anything that burns any kind a fuel. They want you to live in a crowded city, ride a bike wearing spandex and a dorky helmet.
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