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by shadows

Last Post 1 day, 6 hours Ago


A Choice: Food or Fuel
Jul 4, 2008 | 3:14 PM
Category: News
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There are several sources on the web (google) reporting a soon to be released report from the World Bank regarding the cost relationship of food prices and the use of products such as corn in the production of biofuels.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gz6DCk0CcH1N8kQ8Hyz
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The following statements are found in the article on the above link as well as others today.


"Biofuels have caused world food prices to increase by 75 percent, according to the findings of an unpublished World Bank report published in The Guardian newspaper on Friday."


"...a senior World Bank economist assessed that contrary to claims by US President George W. Bush,  increased demand from India and China has not been the cause of rising food prices."

The cost increase of using corn to produce ethanol as a gasoline additive is said to be closer to 75 percent rather than the 3 or 4 percent cited by our government. 

Are you willing to continue to see soaring food prices and reduced gas mileage in order to keep adding corn based ethanol to our gasoline, or should the President roll back his ethanol mandates?
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Member Comments Total Comments: 7
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Meb452m read my blog
Jul 4, 2008 | 11:03 PM

WMFE PBS Channel 24 TV, has within the last 6 months run at least two broadcasts on this issue. The Florida Agricultural Commissioner, Charles Bronson, is actively involved in this and Florida could very well be the Nations leader, as one of the byproducts of methanol production from cane is begaus which when dried makes god boiler fuel for an electrical power plant. They are also researching a cane more similar to what was common in the 1700's as it requires far less fertilizer and chemicals. Sweet Sorgrum is also being experimented with for ethanol production. In bothof these cases they are trying to use crops that do not effect staple food prices. I believe the ethanol mandates are neccessary, again my belief. Good post Shadows !
RNC08 read my blog view my photos
Jul 5, 2008 | 1:39 AM

You are two weeks to late with your latest unfounded attack on “food for fuel” , first even you must know that this is a lie (just a convenient one in that so many people are ignorant enough to by into your little Liberal Bush bashing love fest) ...1st over 70% of the cost of any food product is the cost of fuel for production so the rise is based on oil prices and NOTHING els. 2nd US production of corn has doubled in the past 3 years , and as of 07 for the fist time in US history we are harvesting 100% of the corn we plant (as recently as 06 we only harvested 80% of the crop) 4th corn used for ethanol returns 40% of its total volume as livestock feed...and lastly as of the passing of the “farm bill” our ethanol production strategy has shifted to “biomass” based ethanol, and biomass or cellulose is NOT food ! In fact it is the byproduct of food production and in most cases is burned to clear the fields for replanting.
RNC08 read my blog view my photos
Jul 5, 2008 | 1:45 AM

If you are so smart answer some corn questions , how many bushels do we now produce per acer ? How much was paid so far in subsidies for corn this year ? How many gallons of E100 are produced per bushel of corn ? What is the current actual cost per gallon of ethanol (with out the $.50 per gallon tax credit ...that was removed* in the new farm bill!) ? How many pounds of cattle feed are produced from on bushel of corn after ethanol extraction? What % of US corn production was used in 2007 to offset 12.5% of all motor vehicle fuel consumed in America ?
shadows read my blog
Jul 5, 2008 | 7:13 AM

RNC08, I knew that I could depend on you if Bush was mentioned. Did you read the article? There are multiple points in the article for you and others to consider in addition to the merits of corn based biofuels. For example, the involvement of the Supreme Court, Environmental Protection Agency, and White House in the issue of transmitting data electronically and whether email that is not opened is subject to the Freedom of Information laws.

You must get tired of spewing your little bit of "expertise" about ethanol over and over again. Next time if you must, please try to provide some information that has not been produced by the administration, ethanol producers, or a corn growers related organization.

BTW, one of your inaccuracies was in calling my blog "food for fuel." The title is actually "A Choice: Food OR Fuel."

Another telling statement was "....and as of 07 for the fist time in US history we are harvesting 100% of the corn we plant (as recently as 06 we only harvested 80% of the crop)"

Tell me why do you think that we no longer have a surplus of corn (even after doubling production)????? Do you think that could be part of the reason (supply and demand) that food has gotten more expensive? duh!!

BTW, since you obviously did not follow the link or read the article, I do not wish to answer any of your same-o, same-o "corny" questions. But here's one for you.....does it bother you very much that the presumed Republican Candidate for the Presidency is losing so badly in the polls?
shadows read my blog
Jul 5, 2008 | 7:21 AM

meb452, how about the other points of the article, such as the discrepancy between the World Bank figures and those of the Administration. And the transmittal of data controversy? The debunking of the myth that the food price increases are due to China and India is also an interesting part of the article.

Remember, what the article is about is corn-based ethanol which is the culprit. Ethanol derived from cane and/or garbage is different in both economic effect and composition according to the information that I have read.

I appreciate your comments....you can disagree without the necessity or reliance of/on personal attacks.
RNC08 read my blog view my photos
Jul 5, 2008 | 11:04 AM

You do not have a functioning link in you blog. Probably an attempt to not show that you are again using information that was discredited long ago. Fix the link and I will read your so called facts.
Corn surplus ? Is that what you call it when 2 billion bushels of corn is left to rot in the field, before being burned and then plowed back into the grown ? How does burning corn on the stalk help lower food cost ? (and I already know about the “carbon credit” that farmers get for not producing/harvesting crops...don't agree with that idiocy ether!)
I did find some articles on your post on the NET but if you are expecting me to buy into statements made by the “world bank” you are sadly mistaken ! When has the world bank ever done anything that was in the best interest of this country! What I have not found is a single fact for the finding of the bank to support its attack on Ethanol and NOT high oil prices as the culprit of high food cost.


O and lets not forget this old chestnut : “It takes 5 gallons of gas to produce 1 gallon of ethanol”...funny America produced 8 billion gallons of ethanol last year but I don't remember our gas consumption going up by 46% !
shadows read my blog
Jul 5, 2008 | 11:49 AM

RNC08, See, I knew that you didn't read the article before you started your vaguely related lecture.

But since you finally tried, I will give you a computer lesson. The link is working, however you must be aware that your copy/paste function usually will not "paste" both lines of the copied link in your address window. If you paste the copied link, you must manually type in the second line of the link.

Now, you say it is the World Bank that is not credible. It seems that you always want to attack any source that does not agree with your politics. For your information, the World Bank has done some research/forecasting that has proved to be correct. For example, one such report that I have often cited is the World Bank "Global Economic Prospects 2007" Since you rarely seem to read anything that isn't short and on the web, I must assume that you haven't read this report either.

I am not expecting you to "buy into" anything. If you so desire, you can continue to spew your talking points and the very ignorance that has victimized you.

BTW, typically you didn't address most of my questions such as "....does it bother you very much that the presumed Republican Candidate for the Presidency is losing so badly in the polls?

Since your positions on any issue are dictated by your political persuasion and since you usually try to change the topic of the blog, I figured that I would try to appease you with an area that encompassed your knowledge base.

Peace be with you.
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