Of the top 5 countries the US imports oil from, only 17% originates in the middle east:
Top five countries
Canada (37%)
Saudi Arabia (13%)
Mexico (9%)
Venezuela (9%)
Iraq (4%)
I’d rather the corn be used for food, livestock and exported rather than turned into fuel. If they *must* agonize over that 17%, we can grow cane, switchgrass or whatever for ethanol production instead of corn. It is the height of idiocy to waste a food crop when there are *HIGHLY* viable alternative crops.
Now, I would love nothing more than to tell the Saudi’s that they can eat their oil because we no longer need it *AND* sell them corn at $100/bushel (and see how they like the shoe on the other foot). But diverting corn for ethanol production has such a large ripple effect that it is not smart — especially since it has not put an appreciable dent in middle-east oil imports and will certainly never replace them. We need to look elsewhere for that.
Cruz has made it clear that we should be developing/availing ourselves of *all* our resources. I’ve heard it said that we are our own “Saudi Arabia” when it comes to natural gas and coal, we just need an administration and congress to get runaway govt regs/restrictions (EPA/Greenies and DOE) out of the way.
If Cruz was against Ethanol and laid out arguments like you are doing, I’d respect him more. But when he says, “government shouldn’t be picking winners or losers”, it demonstrates a blind allegiance to an ideology.
There are times when government does need to pick. The classic example is when local government allows a monopoly to an energy producer, water company or cable company because the infrastructure costs are too high. In that case if government doesn’t choose, companies won’t invest. And what community wants 5 lines going down the highway? There are valid reasons other than cronyism why communities choose to have monopolies.
The founding fathers choosing protective tariffs were picking American industries over foreign industries. They literally viewed the tariff as a tax on foreigners wanting to do business in our economy.
The fact that we only buy 17% of our oil imports from middle east companies is a weak argument, because oil is fungible. Someone else will just buy from them. But if we can reduce the total demand for world oil, then that helps defund them.
If other crops are more viable alternatives that should certainly be considered.
There is an argument that says that we should buy their oil and keep ours in the ground until theirs runs out. But if we are liquidating our country to buy their oil then it doesn’t make sense.