The eco-love affair Washington has with biofuels is starting to take a toll on the fragile U.S. economy. It's a shame no one in the media have that connection.
"World News with Charles Gibson" explained on February 20 that biofuels are driving up food prices, which is driving up inflation. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key inflation reading, rose 0.4 percent in January according to the Labor Department, matching December's rise.
"Blame it on the price of wheat," said ABC correspondent Sharon Alfonsi. "Demand for alternative energy has farmers planting less wheat and more corn - the key ingredient of ethanol. Add the growing appetite for wheat from developing countries and the supply is strained.
Alfonsi added, "U.S. wheat stock piles have hit a 60-year low and wheat prices have never been higher. That means the cost of pasta has doubled and that loaf of bread - it'll cost you an extra 20 cents. Economists say it is the fastest-rising rate of food inflation in nearly 15 years."
What Alfonsi left out is the "demand for alternative energies" is an artificial demand created by government mandate. According to the February 12 USA Today, it is heavily subsidized "government-mandated biofuels" that are contributing to the higher commodity prices.
"Soaring demand, rising oil prices and government-mandated biofuel use have sent many commodity prices to their highest levels in history," Sue Kirchhoff and John Waggoner wrote in USA Today.
Biofuels aren't exactly eco-friendly, nor are they the most efficient solution for the country to meet its energy demands.
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Comments Policy
Whoa get the facts STRAIGHT
February 21, 2008 - 18:00 ET by Lame CherryMr. Poor before you start quoting liberal, cartel paid for disinformation you need to research the facts as bio fuels have nothing to do with inflation.
If one examines farm plantings in the past years one finds one gaping chasm in it and that is CRP or Conservation Reserve Programs which took land out of farming and made it fallow which benefits soil erosion and wildlife.
If wheat did not go up in price when Ronald Reagan did it.......it sure does not have a thing to do with bio fuels now!
There was not even a shift when farmers switched a decade ago from cheap corn to soybeans in the price of corn or wheat going up.
I HOPE YOU FIX THIS MR. POOR AS THE SOURCE OF CROP PRICES GOING UP IS THE SOURCE OF OIL PRICES GOING UP AND THAT IS HEDGE FUNDS.
The same hedge funds driving up gold prices whose cheap operative is George Soros.
To allow a blatant lie in wheat prices going up due to production in lack of planting IGNORES WHEAT is raised on the western plains where corn and beans do not grow well at all. Those acres are still in wheat production, except those taken out during the Reagan years.
Wheat prices went up because the grain cartels with hedge funds LAST YEAR BOUGHT ON FUTURES WHEAT at 4 dollars a bushel. They then controlling the MONOPOLY which is ILLEGAL cut grain sales short and drove up wheat prices.
This is all quite illegal and it would behoove Newsbusters to get informed instead of having a blogger point out the happenings of world grain cartels who have made billions off of jacking up food prices worldwide.
Stop blaming bio fuels AS THE FOOD IS STILL THERE AFTER THE CREATION OF THE FUELS and the wheat is NOT RAISED ON CORN AND BEAN GROUND as it does not make economic sense to raise 4 dollar wheat at the time at 40 bushels and acre for 160 dollars compared to 150 bushel corn at 3 dollars a bushel for 450 dollars or 50 bushel soybeans at 8 dollars a bushel for 400 dollars. Wheat was never raised on that land in the first place as it never made economic sense.
All of this is hiding another world cartel, George Soros, hedge fund rape of the world's economy. Start exposing the facts of what drove up wheat prices. It is illegal and Soros and company should be in prison over it.
God bless.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
Bio-fuels are a scam
February 21, 2008 - 21:34 ET by PopularTechIf there was a need for Biofuels the market would call for it.
Ethanol And Biodiesel From Crops Not Worth The Energy (Science Daily)
Ethanol - Ethanol, Corn To Weigh Heavily On Future Of Livestock Industry (Science Daily)
Ethanol - Ethanol Fuel From Corn Faulted As "Unsustainable Subsidized Food Burning" In Analysis By Cornell Scientist (Science Daily)
Ethanol - Ethanol Mandates Could Drive Up Food Prices, Enviros Say (CNSNews)
Ethanol - Ethanol Production Threatens Plains States With Water Scarcity (Environmental News Service)
Ethanol - Increase In Ethanol Production From Corn Could Significantly Harm Water Quality (Science Daily)
Ethanol - Study: Ethanol Production Consumes Six Units Of Energy To Produce Just One (Science Daily)
Biofuels - Biofuels could lead to mass hunger deaths: U.N. envoy (Reuters)
Now since Biofuels are so heavily subsidized by my tax dollars this only makes the matters worse:
Ethanol Subsidies - Ethanol Keeps ADM Drunk On Tax Dollars (Cato Institute)
Ethanol Subsidies - Ethanol Subsidies: New Ways to Waste Money (CNSNews)
Ethanol Subsidies - Push Ethanol Off the Dole (Cato Institute)
Ethanol Subsidies - The Ethanol Subsidy is Worse Than You Can Imagine (Slate Magazine)
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
Your title is wrong.
February 21, 2008 - 21:44 ET by sarcasmoBecause markets are demanding things like used fry-oil right now for biodiesel. The scam is in the government subsidy, not in the good idea. Rudolf Diesel wasn't a dumb guy, and he liked bio fuels for his engine. Our problem is the ethanol-scam, not the almost-extinct these days free market.
JMR
A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.
Thre is no market demand for Biofuels
February 22, 2008 - 00:01 ET by PopularTechMy title is correct, biofuels are a scam. The only reason Biofuels are being talked about is due to Al Gore and Government subsidies. If Biofuels were such a good idea and cost effective they would be able to compete with oil on the free market but cannot.
Give me a break - Oil Prices (Video) (5min) (John Stossel, 20/20)
For Now, Gasoline Is Our Only Cheap Fuel (Cato Institute)
Myths About Breaking Our Foreign Oil Habit (The Washington Post)
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
Denial won't help.
February 22, 2008 - 08:39 ET by sarcasmoSaying "there is no market demand for biofuels" is like saying "climate alarmists don't exist." You may wish it were so, but it's not. To the extent that they can do it without taxpayer subsidies, I'd think conservatives would be FOR the green types who do this stuff voluntarily, instead of whining about them or trying to claim they somehow don't-exist (here are "mine," for example).
But my lefty friends make their own biodiesel with waste fry-oil only in part because it makes them feel-good and reduces dependence on foreign oil. In part, it's because waste oil is relatively cheap and diesel fuel sure as hell isn't getting any cheaper...I fail to see how energy independence attempts are that bad as long as they cost taxpayers nothing.
The problem you see is that since even-before Dole's campaign Archer Daniels Midland has had enormous influence on US agricultural policy, and that costs taxpayers a lot. Our farm policy has become increasingly-socialist mainly as a result of the actions of a giant corporation with a habit of buying various politicians. It's not lefty types like Willie Nelson ineffectively-wailing about greedy corporations like ADM supposedly acting "capitalist" (while repeatedly supporting explicitly-socialist policies via their paid-for politicians who got us into this mess!!).
JMR
A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.
Biofuels cannot compete with Oil without the Subsidies!
February 22, 2008 - 11:11 ET by PopularTechDenial? Try REALITY. Biodiesel cannot compete with oil without the large subsidies it receives. Otherwise we would already be using it! That is how the market works. What ever is more cost effective gets used.
Subsidies - Biofuels: At What Cost? (Global Subsidies Initiative)
- Total Subsidies for Ethanol Between $6.3 and $8.7 Billion Per Year ($1.06-$1.45 Per Gallon)
- Total Subsidies for Biodiesel Between $1.7 and $2.3 Billion Per Year ($1.14-$1.55 Per Gallon)
But their are other problems with Biodiesel:
Biodiesel - Cold Snap Raises Issues When Biodiesel Gels Up (USA Today)
Biodiesel - Cold Snap Stops Green (Biodiesel) Bus Service (BBC)
Biodiesel - Trucking Companies Report Engine Problems After Switching to Biodiesel (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Including its not so enviro-friendly nature:
Biodiesel - Biodiesel Won't Drive Down Global Warming (Science Daily)
Biodiesel - Orang-utans Home Destroyed for Biodiesel (The Daily Telegraph, UK)
We need to stop wasting time with Biofuel crap. If the price of oil gets high enough Biofuels will become competitive on their own via the market. We need to end subsidies and allow the import of REAL diesel cars like the Volkswagon Diesel TDI - 42mpg!
If people want better mileage with gas they can buy a Toyota Pious (44mpg), Honda Civic Hybrid (37mpg), Toyota Camry Hybrid (34mpg), Honda Fit (34mpg), Toyota Yaris (34mpg) or a Honda Civic (31mpg) on their own. No one is stopping them.
Energy Independence is a nice idea but Biofuels are not the answer.
Using waste oil is a nice fantasy until you try to apply it to any large scale volume use and it falls completely apart. Do we mandate restaurants cook more french fries that no one is there to buy so we have more waste oil? Please.
ADM is only part of the problem, Biofuels are subsidized across the board.
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
I don't see subsidies locally.
February 22, 2008 - 11:11 ET by sarcasmoAnd if humans were perfectly rational economic actors all the time, bottled water would not be able to compete with tap water. It's a multi-billion-with-a-B dollar business, and it's also a pretty good analogy in terms of emotion vs effects. Think about it.
Also, due to hysteria, we have nothing even approaching a free marketplace to compare with petroleum. One of the most efficient bio fuels isn't even tried. Hemp grows on marginal soil/land, unlike corn. We see expensive moronic prohibition on it, instead of expensive moronic subsidies. A free market would have neither.
JMR
A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.
So the Subsidies do not exist?
February 22, 2008 - 11:16 ET by PopularTechSo what because you do not see them, they do not exist? Is bottle water subsidized or is it's use enforced through laws like Biofuels?
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
They exist.
February 22, 2008 - 11:19 ET by sarcasmoJust like the prohibition, and they distort the market. But the local people, as far as I know, don't get federal checks for biofuel. They do get checks for prohibition, which like it or not also effects the "free" market of which we speak. Something tells me ADM gets (and gives) bigger political-subsidy checks than "Brevardbiodiesel."
JMR
A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.
What Market?
February 22, 2008 - 11:23 ET by PopularTechSo a handful of people collecting waste oil is now a market? Please, next you will claim the bums who pick up cans in NYC are a market too. The reality is there is not market for the production and sale of Biofuels without subsidies and with the current price of oil.
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
Assert it all you want.
February 22, 2008 - 11:24 ET by sarcasmoYou have no way of knowing, because we have nothing even close to a free market due to the things I mentioned which you've tried to ignore.
JMR
A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.
No Market Exists for Biofuels without Subsidies
February 22, 2008 - 12:01 ET by PopularTechWhat part of my statement do you not understand? A handful of idealists wasting their time collecting waste oil is not a market or part of it. I haven't ignored anything, you have or rather tried to create something.
Flex-fuel vehicles exist today, vehicles that can run on Biodiesel exist today but there are no suppliers selling Biodiesel in the market that are not federally and state subsidized because they cannot compete with the price of regular diesel without the subsidies. That is an inconvenient fact you are ignoring.
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
It's not "a handful" -- even in this county!
February 22, 2008 - 15:55 ET by sarcasmoGoogle is your friend (look at the ads alone, let alone results, for any biodiesel search while you try to make your claim). And you have yet to prove that my local biodiesel fans are getting any subsidies, much less anywhere-near the subsidies ADM (which owns politicians of both "major" parties, like it or not) provably gets for ethanol-not-biodiesel. When I worked in food service, waste-oil was something they paid to dispose-of, and now it's something they're paid-for, often by the same firms. If that's not a market proving you wrong wrong wrong, then what is???
And on top of that, Rudolf Diesel had no federal subsidies to consider when he decided vegetable fuels would be best for running his new-back-then engine. Was he nuts, too? Did envirolefties go-back in time and convince him to do something politically-inconvenient for you today?? Some people around here have a LOT of trouble admitting it when they're obviously wrong, and speaking of inconvenient facts you're ignoring, you have yet to mention that 4-letter h-word that makes lots of "conservatives" go hysterical... Why??
JMR
A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.
Waste Oil is now an energy Market? Please
February 22, 2008 - 22:54 ET by PopularTechWhat companies collect waste oil and refines it into economically competitive Biodiesel and then sells it without subsidies? If this was economically competitive then it would have been done a long time ago. The fact is it is not economically competitive with regular Diesel.
Again, do we mandate restaurants cook more french fries that they cannot sell to produce more waste oil? How does waste oil scale economically outside of a handful of people using it? These are very basic questions you blatantly ignore.
Why do we not run on vegetable fuels currently? Because they are not economically competitive with oil and have a lower BTU rating. Thus you get lower MPG with Biodiesel vs Diesel and Ethanol vs Gasoline.
Idealistic nonsense does not change the facts.
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
End all subsidies
February 22, 2008 - 12:30 ET by dscottAll I want is the end of wasteful government spending, that starts with
1. subsidies of all kinds: ethanol, sugar, corn, wheat, no planting, etc. ad nauseum. I want them all gone, Next comes the
2. earmarks, they must go, and then all
3. the vote buying scam Social programs all $300+ billion of them.
At that point the SS trust fund money can be properly invested like a pension fund should instead of being embezzled for annual operation expenses.
Lord Sidious / Darth Vader 2008 Long Live the Empire! Come to the Dark Side, it is your Destiny.
Lame Cherry, I don't know
February 22, 2008 - 00:10 ET by motherbeltLame Cherry, I don't know about liberal cartels, but I know this:
I heard an item on my local radio station a couple of weeks ago,
advising that people with freezers might want to start buying and
storing extra beef, because the price was expected to rise.
Why? Beef raisers are starting to reduce their herds because ethanol usage is causing the price of corn (feed) to rise.
Please don't say this is ridiculous; this happened right
after several posters here said it couldn't because ethanol was made
from the husks after the usable part of the corn was taken. (Well, if the
corn is fed to beef cattle, what part of it is left?)
With increased demand for corn, corn prices rise. If the price of corn goes up, farmers are more likely to plant corn rather than wheat, as it's more profitable. So with lower supplies of
wheat, the price of wheat goes up.
Supply and demand. No George Soros, no hedge funds. No international conspiracy.
Supply and demand. And the law of unintended consequences.
The chickens are coming home to roost
February 21, 2008 - 18:05 ET by NofLeave it to the government and there almighty wisdom to supposedly "fix" one problem and create 100 more serious problems. Lets see Corn makes ethonol but it also feeds chickens, cows, and us. Hence...milk, eggs, chicken, beef, cheese...aka everything go up in price. This dosen't take a rocket scientist to realize this! Couple it with already high gas/diesel prices and a rapidly falling dollar and it all adds up to...BAD for you and I the poor slob middleclass american. Thanks politician sleeze for creating the problem and Media Scum for failing once again to remove the head from the arse!
"When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat" R. Reagan
Easy Solution
February 21, 2008 - 18:11 ET by mattmDrill ANWR (and other U.S. sources)
Build more refineries.
Ban ethanol.
mattm... It is simple as
February 21, 2008 - 18:15 ET by bigtimermattm...
It is simple as that.
delete
February 22, 2008 - 00:07 ET by motherbeltdelete
More Bio-foolishness
February 21, 2008 - 19:09 ET by RackieWhat do they know that we don't know? When will it end?
Finally we get some
February 22, 2008 - 12:21 ET by moonjohnFinally we get some benefits from the use of Bio-Fuels.
Bio-Fuels by themselves are a complete loss both in energy and cost.
But, planting corn in place of wheat, drives up the cost of wheat which we export and make money from overseas.
Unless of course, we increase our Foreign Aid to balance out the increased costs of the wheat to foreign countries.
The Law of Unintended Consequences Rears It's Ugly Head!
February 22, 2008 - 12:34 ET by Wildcatter1980When government circumvents the marketplace--in this case ethanol and
biodiesel incentives--there will inevitably be unanticipated
consequences of that action. As we are now seeing, farmers will shift
their fields from crops that are not making as much money to crops that
will make more. The result will be higher costs for all foods as even
the various meat industries will have to pay more for the feed grains
their animals eat.
Just my $0.02