Big Government Is Causing Your Big Food Bills
It's the failed ethanol policy, mandating the use of ethanol in gasoline, writes Rob Green in the WSJ:
Americans should understand that this year's drought--the worst in 50 years--isn't the primary reason for record-high food prices. The drought made things worse, but the leading driver of long-term increases in food costs is a deeply flawed federal mandate.In 2005, Congress enacted the Renewable Fuel Standard to mandate the use of corn-based ethanol in gasoline. The cost of food commodities immediately began to rise. As a result, Americans have had to deal with some of the highest food prices on record. While the drought will end at some point, the price increases caused by the ethanol mandate will continue unless the government reverses course.
Proponents of ethanol argue that it lowers greenhouse-gas emissions and gas prices, but these findings remain subject to intense debate. The higher food prices all Americans now pay are indisputable.
Under the federal mandate, Americans must use 15 billion gallons of ethanol in gasoline annually by 2015. To meet this goal, 5.3 billion bushels of corn per year--equal to more than 40% of the 2011 corn crop--must be processed and burned as ethanol, not used for food or livestock feed.
The result: higher prices across the entire food chain, from products directly containing corn to protein raised on corn feed and crops that compete with corn for farmland. That includes the bread on the table, the eggs at breakfast, the chicken or steak at dinner, and almost all dairy products.
...it is time for the ethanol industry to stand on its own, as restaurant owners and operators do every day. Congress and the president should repeal the misguided Renewable Fuel Standard and allow the free market to allocate corn to its most highly valued use--not one imposed by a government that forces food to be burned for inefficient fuel.
Voting for the powers that be -- whether the Obama or the Romney side -- continues policies like this.
Don't kid yourselves that the Republicans are, as they claim, the party of small government. They're the party of politicians making greasy deals, same as the other side, to benefit themselves in votes and cushy deals. This sometimes looks like they're benefiting the people who voted for them, but that's usually just a happy coincidence for those voters.
If you don't feel up-to-speed on the issue of automotive energy consumption, take a look here for a summary.
Don't miss the link about fuel.
Radwaste at November 28, 2012 7:10 PM
This is a very tiny problem compared to the general economic collapse we are facing in the next few years.
A very small part of the food price increase is caused by ethenol subsidies, and conversion of corn into fuel. A bigger part is the government printing money, and transporation costs of getting food to consumers, with the price of diesel double what it was several years ago.
Isab at November 29, 2012 8:44 AM
Anyone else remember the kissing cousin to this big guv energy cluster---- known as the MTBE?
Best and brightest our gubbment is not.
Feebie at November 30, 2012 10:55 AM
If you are referring to Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether, you are asked to provide an alternative. Gasohol has energy penalties in proportion to its alcohol content. E85 mileage is as much as 40% worse than current gasolines in flex-fuel service, and its cost means that only the most ardent environmentalist, however misguided, will use it.
How much info in my link did you know? In my experience, almost no one knows how their own car works.
Radwaste at December 1, 2012 5:48 AM
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