Friday, March 07, 2008

Listen Carefully - I'll Talk Slowly

Enough of the whining about energy prices. It's our own bloody fault. Have you seen what the great, green ethanol surge has done to the prices of foodstuffs? When the cost of beef and pork (due to increase in feed prices) goes up 25% in 2008 there will be howling about price gouging and Big Agriculture. Already there have been "tortilla riots" caused by the price increase in corn due to US government ethanol subsidies, and the vote-pandering idiots in both parties refuse to notice. It's far more important to them to get the votes to stay in office and blame the other politicos for the problems caused by their policies.

There were 9.76 billion bushels of corn, a commodity crop, produced in the 1998-1999 crop year. Of this, 526 million bushels (14.7 million tons at 15% moisture) were used in the corn ethanol
industry to produce fuel ethanol. My calculator tells me that's 5.3% of the total crop. However, in it's infinite lust-for-power, Congress has mandated that the 2012 target for ethanol production be changed from 7.5 billion gallons to over 36 billion gallons per year in 2022 under a "Renewable Fuels Act" presently in the legislative hopper. Welcome to the wonderful world of BILLION dollar subsidies. Our food customers, however, will not be happy.

Oh, did I neglect to mention that China and India have been ramping up their oil consumption?

Before you start the "It's all America's Fault!" moonbat mating call, take a look at the global market for oil. Everybody else wants more and is willing to pay for it. The Sovs are riding that horse for all it's worth, the Chinese are buying wa-a-y above the increase in present usage as their strategic stockpile is being filled. The EU has already been browbeaten into paying ridiculous prices due to the tax structure to support the almighty state.

BTW - I see no energy crisis in this country as long as the lib-ruls, NIMBYs, and eco-freaks block refineries, nuclear power plants, coal-and-natural-gas-fired power plants, offshore drilling, ANWR drilling and off-shore wind farms (yeah, I'm lookin' at YOU, Admiral of Chappaquiddick). When the chattering classes are inconvenienced and descend from the Throne-of-I-Know-Better-Than-YOU-Peasant, I may believe there is a problem. Until then, bugger off, ya great slags.

Well, I feel better now. How about you?

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