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Iowa voters have given up on ethanol; presidential candidates are following suit
The Los Angeles Times ^ | December 17, 2015 | Evan Halper

Posted on 12/17/2015 11:43:19 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

The fortunes of the wonder fuel that promised to help clean the environment, secure America and save small family farms have steadily dwindled as environmentalists, food advocates and auto enthusiasts sour on its promise. Now that fuel, corn-based ethanol, finds itself threatened with a defection that was once unthinkable: Iowa voters.

The electorate here in the early voting state often defined by its vast expanses of corn has long demanded that candidates pledge allegiance to government production mandates for millions of gallons of ethanol, the homegrown product. But as the 2016 White House hopefuls traverse the state, they are seeing that Iowans have grown strikingly ambivalent....

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: 2016primaries; conservatism; corporatewelfare; cruz; ethanol; farmsubsidies; iowa; subsidies; tedcruz

1 posted on 12/17/2015 11:43:19 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Iowa Poll: Likely caucusgoers favor ethanol mandate

Support for the mandate is lower among likely Republican caucusgoers, but still a solid majority, at 61 percent. Thirty-four percent oppose it, and 5 percent aren’t sure.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/iowa-poll/caucus/2015/12/17/iowa-poll-caucusgoers-favor-ethanol-mandate/77370882/


2 posted on 12/17/2015 11:47:58 PM PST by Helicondelta
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Donald Trump is still fighting WW II. He just attacked Ted Cruz over ethanol subsidies. The Trump has still not gotten the memo.


3 posted on 12/17/2015 11:56:36 PM PST by SmokingJoe ( .)
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To: Helicondelta
The Republican presidential contender now polling strongest in Iowa, Ted Cruz, is campaigning on an energy platform that would have been a death wish in elections past. Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas, is an unabashed opponent of giving ethanol any special government help. He derides it as the worst kind of central planning. He champions legislation to wipe out the decade-old Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates large amounts of ethanol get blended into the nation’s gas supply.

That is the conservative free market way.

4 posted on 12/18/2015 12:01:18 AM PST by SmokingJoe ( .)
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To: SmokingJoe

Gutsy. Perfect.


5 posted on 12/18/2015 12:56:03 AM PST by wiggen (#JeSuisCharlie)
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To: wiggen

Trump will win Iowa. Period.


6 posted on 12/18/2015 2:04:35 AM PST by flaglady47 (TRUMP ROCKS)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Now that fuel, corn-based ethanol, finds itself threatened with a defection that was once unthinkable: Iowa voters.
If accurate, the timing has a twinkle of the divine to it.
7 posted on 12/18/2015 2:13:34 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: SmokingJoe

Sorry, Smokey -

Both you and the LA Crimes reporter have it wrong.

1. There have been three polls out after the stale Monmouth, out on December 7th, with Trump on top over Cruz in Iowa. To then state, on December 17th, that Cruz is “now polling strongest in Iowa” is flat-out inaccurate.

2. Trump never mentioned the word “subsidies”.

You just went up in Smoke, Smokey.


8 posted on 12/18/2015 3:02:46 AM PST by RightGuy
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’ve noticed that I get much better mileage with 100% gas than I do with any ethanol blend.

It’s not saving gas because I’m burning more in my car than before.

Back to all gas....


9 posted on 12/18/2015 4:03:43 AM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: metmom

“I get much better mileage with 100% gas”........

Not to leave out the fact that 100% gas is better for your car/truck and small engines. The only benefit is that ethanol is less expensive Over the long run that may prove to be wrong.


10 posted on 12/18/2015 5:29:13 AM PST by DaveA37
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The ethanol-corn subsidy is SOOO wrong. It has the net effect of tying the price of food grains to the world price of substitute-able hydrocarbons from crude oil. The “ethanol mandate” for motor vehicle fuels means that a gasoline distributor must be willing to pay whatever the price is for enough ethanol he needs to blend with the amount of gasoline the public needs.

Then prices for farm land, farm equipment and supplies is bid up by higher prices that come from the government subsidy. Farmers go in to debt to expand but government will eventually get exhausted by the burden of the subsidy expense. The subsidy will get cut, but the debt remains. When farm land prices fall, the loan collateral covenants will be breached and the loan foreclosed on.

We are still debating about the net environmental benefit. All for the vain Utopian concept of “sustainability”.


11 posted on 12/18/2015 7:30:38 AM PST by theBuckwheat
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To: DaveA37

It’s less expensive per gallon, but in the long run, since I use more of it, it is not cost effective for me.


12 posted on 12/18/2015 12:03:44 PM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: SmokingJoe
The Trump has still not gotten the memo.

The memo Trump works from is one that his supporters here don't want to read.

13 posted on 12/18/2015 12:06:32 PM PST by Colonel_Flagg (Revenge is a Daesh best served cold.)
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To: wiggen
Gutsy. Perfect.

Exactly.


14 posted on 12/18/2015 12:21:40 PM PST by FourPeas (Tone matters.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

ethanol ruins small engines, finally we can buy ethanol free. Why not just stop adding it altogether?


15 posted on 12/18/2015 12:23:00 PM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: RightGuy

Lol....that’s been happening to a lot of claims, today.

At least they’re showing us what they fear.


16 posted on 12/18/2015 2:51:00 PM PST by Jane Long (Go Trump, go! Make America Safe Again :)
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