Comments on: Corn ethanol is the worst thing since sliced Hitler

By: It’s things like this that turn sane people vegetarian « The Poor Man Institute

Tue, 06 May 2008 01:39:41 +0000

[...] usual answer, as with biofuels, is that subsidies are always bad, and that a thorough liberalization of the agricultural sector [...]

By: jondo

jondo — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:18:19 +0000

Checking the Wall Street Journal this morning, the prices of corn, wheat, and soybeans are way up from last year – but beef is not

Feed lots are dumping cattle right now. too expensive to feed

By: symbiotic

symbiotic — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:12:55 +0000

You said: On the other hand, as tens of millions of Chinese and Indians annually join Americans and Europeans in wanting their steaks and wines – and perhaps a bit of $4 gasohol from food crops to get them to the supermarket and back – the orders of magnitude start agreeing.

A minor inaccuracy, but I thought I should point it out, because inaccuracies like this make it easy to dismiss your main point (which, btw, I agree with). The demand for steak isn’t increasing in India, and I can’t imagine that it ever would. All the major religions in that country aside from Islam forbid eating cows.

By: IludiumPhosdex

IludiumPhosdex — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:49:13 +0000

Has anyone given serious thought to cultivating Jerusalem artichokes as a more viable biofuel (especially considering where not too many eat them, thanks to their flatulent repute)? (It's my understanding that Jerusalem artichokes are a better source of biofuel than cereal grains now used.)

By: Gwailo

Gwailo — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:48:08 +0000

Corn ethanol = “Oil-ent Green”. And Oilent Green is made from people.

By: FS

FS — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:39:43 +0000

Checking the Wall Street Journal this morning, the prices of corn, wheat, and soybeans are way up from last year – but beef is not.

By: Hamilton

Hamilton — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:30:52 +0000

I agree whole heartatly. Check out this post,

http://conservativeforchange.blogspot.com/2008/04/ethanol-failed-now-we-are-paying-price.html

By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:09:21 +0000

Links in your last italicized paragraph aren’t working (text on the end of them, it looks like). Otherwise, good post.

By: values | a crank’s progress

values | a crank’s progress — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:50:53 +0000

[...] [From Corn ethanol is the worst thing since sliced Hitler « The Poor Man Institute] [...]

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:05:18 +0000

You’re right about corn, blame the Iowa Caucus.

There is currently food in Port-au-Prince, and other places where food isn’t getting to the people. It just costs twice a daily salary, so they eat sand cookies mixed with butter and salt. The prices aren’t set by the vendors, but by the markets based on analyst predictions of world conditions. In short, if they can plausibly raise prices they do. Meanwhile vendors have bags of grain sitting there going unsold, there needs to be fair-trade and other market reforms where the prices for the vendors are based on what they can sell it to the end consumer for , not what the vendor will pay. Nobody likes price controls. I think a re-framing of the markets is what’s needed. The next problem is execution of the laws.

The third wolds biggest problem is the same as ours, corruption. Laws don’t get executed, food isn’t scare, but doesn’t get to the people, water-rights are stolen in Latin America because of corruption. It’s why Iraqi oil isn’t helping, it’s stolen.

I just saw a great documentary about Brazil called, “Manda Bala”, and it outlines the vicious circles of corruption leading to the maintenance of the cycle of very rich and very poor in countries without the rule of law or corruption free governmental infrastructure.