End the Ethanol Madness

[Geee]

American Thinker:

Economists are warning that the current drought in the Corn Belt is going to result in higher food prices. That increase will hit consumers hard, reducing discretionary spending and further weakening an already fragile economy. With every scorching day that passes, the catastrophe mounts. But, as usual, the president is AWOL. There's not been one word from Obama about how to address a food crisis that everyone knows is coming.

 

There have been Midwestern droughts from time immemorial, some of them (like those of the 1930s and 1956) as bad as or worse than present one. And no one -- not even a president who thinks government should get credit for everyone else's success -- can perform a rain dance and make the drought go away. But there is one thing the president can do to alleviate the effects of the drought: suspend the nation's ill-conceived ethanol program.

 

That program now burns up 40% of the U.S. corn crop. If he had exercised leadership, Obama could already have taken action to suspend ethanol mandates. That action would have spared 320 million Americans higher food prices this fall and helped to rescue the economy from further decline. Obama keeps saying he is focusing on jobs like a laser, but now, when he has a chance to actually do something about it, he can't even be located. He's off in Toledo or Roanoke or dining with Anna Wintour, where he probably was not thinking about food inflation. He doesn't even seem to know that the American people are hurting -- "the private sector is doing fine." Yeah, right.

 

How bad is the damage to America's corn crop? The situation gets worse every day, but current estimates are that 20% of the crop may be lost. The price of corn futures is up nearly 50% since the end of May, along with surging prices of soybeans, wheat, and other basic agricultural commodities.

 

In the face of this, the Obama administration has its head stuck in the sand. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack refuses to acknowledge any significant impact of the drought on food prices. If prices are rising, it's the result of "unfair practices," he said. Or it's the fault of energy prices (which have actually come down 27% from recent highs). Vilsack has actually offered to perform a "rain dance," if he can come up with one, to alleviate the drought. That seems to be about all this administration is capable of.

 

As for the president, he has steadfastly ignored the impending crisis. He probably figures that in the run-up to the election, voters do not need to be advised that his party's ethanol policies have been responsible for food inflation. When he is not ignoring the problem, he is lying about it, with his administration refusing to deny that climate change is responsible for the present localized weather conditions. Yes, George Bush's failure to sign the Kyoto Climate Accord is responsible for the present drought. Bush caused this year's drought (and those of 1988, 1956, and 1936 as well). He also caused the global warming of the Medieval Climate Optimum (950-1250 AD) and the frigid temperatures of the Little Ice Age (1350-1850).

 

The crucial point is that Obama's environmental policies have put the country's food supply at risk. Anyone with common sense knows that burning 40% of the nation's corn crop (and proposing to burn the entire crop, as increasing mandates would do) to satisfy ethanol mandates is madness. Yet Obama has consistently supported the ethanol program along with impractical mandates for biofuel and other alternatives.

[NCTexan]

The crucial point is that Obama's environmental policies have put the country's food supply at risk. Anyone with common sense knows that burning 40% of the nation's corn crop (and proposing to burn the entire crop, as increasing mandates would do) to satisfy ethanol mandates is madness. Yet Obama has consistently supported the ethanol program along with impractical mandates for biofuel and other alternatives.

 

On top of this... just consider all of the Federal and local subsidies that support this foolishness. They're taking money out of our pockets to starve ourselves to death.

[Draggingtree]

August 15, 2012

 

Obama's Hungry Children

 

 

By Jeffrey Folks

 

As a result of the Midwestern drought, global prices for corn and other staple foods have increased dramatically. Corn prices are up by half since May, while soybean prices are up by over a quarter. With the drought only worsening, traders are beginning to talk about something entirely unprecedented: double-digit prices for a bushel of corn. Meanwhile, under the president's environmental mandates, 50% of this year's crop is being burned up to produce ethanol. Americans, who spend an average of 18% of their income on food for home consumption, will be hurt as well. But for the poor in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Ethiopia, increased grain prices are a matter of life and death.

 

In fact, almost one billion people worldwide will go to bed hungry tonight, half of them children. On average, 5 million children die of starvation each year before reaching the age of five. This year, that number will be much higher. For poor children at the margin, a large increase in grain prices is nothing less than a death sentence.

 

Death by starvation is not a pretty sight. Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/08/obamas_hungry_children.html#ixzz23eJmf3wW