"But why Ed", you wonder, "why would using ethanol for fuel cause milk to be so expensive?"
The short answer? Because whenever the government meddles in the market, bad things happen. Ethanol producers are competing with cow farmers for corn, which raises dramatically it's market price. Farmers have to pay more for corn to feed the cows and that's why milk costs so much. The irony is that these smelly-hippy vegans will be paying way more for the rabbit food they want everybody to eat because of ethanol mandates too.
In fact, everybody will be paying lots more for everything that uses corn as an ingredient. Corn is the U.S.'s primary food source. What in the world are we thinking putting our number one food source in our gas tanks? How stupid are we? The market should decide if we like ethanol or not...not the government.
You will pay a lot more for staples like this if stupid environmentalists have their way.
7 comments:
Ethanol as a fuel additive is a very, very stupid idea and barely even sounds good on paper. It takes more energy (obtained from fossil fuels, no less) to harvest, collect and convert ethanol from corn than the ethanol actually contains!
Despite disagreeing with you on the status of global warming (I am quite convinced that it is occurring, but realize that it's impossible to say if it is entirely due to human efforts), I am all for the rampant use of fossil fuel. I say, the quicker we use it all up, the sooner we can start using nuclear power (which is awesome).
The future of US energy is Generation IV nuclear reactors, hydrogen fuel cells and the SuperGrid.
Touche', ongoing. I don't deny that the climate may be in a slight warming trend, but to insist that we must stop it is to assume that the current temperature on Earth is the perfect temperature. How arrogantly preposterous for us to think that our generation exists in the ideal climate for Earth, when the Earth's climate has been fluctuating for billions of years.
I agree ongoing...nuke the whales!
The Green Lantern..... loves soy milk and does not care how much dairy milk increases. I think we should ad additional taxes to milk and other staple items in very affluent suburbs to help our poor farmers in this country and other countries around the world. Hopefully the UN can start a world tax system to help solve the global problems.
C'mon anonymous, surely you can disguise your tongue-in-cheek sarcasm better than that. If it had been just a little less over-the-top, I might have bitten on it, but I liked it anyway. Nice try.
Ed, I know government intrusion is a touchy topic with you but contrary to your slavish obsession with the "free market", there are some things that the government should be doing. One of which is protecting the environment while reducing our dependence on foreign oil by forcing markets to embrace alternative fuels. Government mandates may not be good for the individual but they are for the good of the country.
Reducing dependence on foreign oil is always a good idea. I believe the US should, for reasons of national security, be able to supply itself with energy and food if the need arises.
Alternative energy, however, is not a magic bullet. Solar power is inefficient, unreliable and EXPENSIVE. Should houses be built with solar panels on their roofs to supplement the power grid? Sure! Should our local power plants run off of solar energy? Hell no!
As far as climate change is concerned, I have to agree with you. Many people have the false idea that the Earth is some happy harmonious system where all systems are balanced, except humans - who destroy everything. This is, quite simply, not true. The Earth routinely kills off its inhabitants in brutal unrelenting environmental shifts. So, while it is silly to try and keep the temperature the same, there are things that we should be careful about (like CFC emissions and sulfur in fuel). Additionally, humanity as a whole must be prepared for inevitable changes in the climate. Fortune favors the prepared.
Well said, ongoing.
By resisting government intrusion into markets, I'm not advocating that industries be allowed to freely pollute in the interest of maximum profits. We conservatives like clean air and water just as much as smelly hippies do. Placing reasonable pollution rules on industry is one of the few legitimate functions of government. In addition, reducing or better yet, eliminating our petroleum-based economy would free us from having to give a damn about what happens in the middle east outside of Israel. That's where the market and profit motive come back in. The private sector, in the pursuit of profit, can always efficiently allocate resources to determine the best solution to a problem...better than the government can. The government should never direct private enterprise, but it can sometimes nudge it in the direction which serves the country best.
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