THE GREAT ETHANOL FOLLY

Our great savior will not come in the form of liquid corn, a.k.a. ethanol. Just about every environmental wacko, Democrat, and the President himself have conned the public into believing it will not only help us reduce our dependency on foreign oil but help gas prices go down as well. It goes without saying that gas has gone up over the past few years while mandates on ethanol being a decent percentage of the gas you put in your car is as well. Rich Lowry explains:

"We will plant 90 million acres of it this year, up 15 percent from last year. Still, the price of a bushel of corn jumped from $2 to $3 in the past year, thanks to the demand for more ethanol. This is increasing the price of corn-based foods - tortillas have become as much as twice as expensive in Mexico - and meat, poultry and dairy products, since livestock traditionally has been fed corn. "In some parts of the country," Jeff Goodell writes in Rolling Stone, "hog farmers now find it cheaper to fatten their animals on trail mix, french fries and chocolate bars."

It is basic economics; if there is a certain amount of corn being grown and growers can't keep up with the demand pressed by the government, the price is going to go up. Corn is one of the worlds most important crops, and if a large potion of it cannot be used for human consumption but rather car consumption, it seems like a waste. The amount of corn needed to be grown to meet the governments needs would have to encompass the entire northeast. Unless we become a nation of corn growers rather than cities, people, industrialization, and progress, their mandate isn't possible.

Consider the unintended consequences of their good intentions. Corn goes up in price so does gasoline being a percentage of gas must be ethanol based. Pretty straight forward. High gas prices means shipping becomes more expensive and our products go up. If corn goes up so does the price of tortillas, a main feeding source for Mexicans and poor people in general. We are affected with high pop corn and corn syrup prices. High corn syrup prices means that a lot of the sweets we eat will go up as well. Many animals are fed using corn based foods. If their feed goes up so does all sorts of meat, from chicken to beef and the other white meat. Produce will go up as well. Job losses would not be a surprise as a result of this either.

Getting off foreign oil is a major concern, but ethanol is not the answer. The quicker the government realizes that and comes up with ideas baring more tangible results, we will all be better off...