Posted on 04/26/2008 4:19:44 PM PDT by CWW
Why isn’t congress repealing these stupid mandates???
I am not dumb enough!...
Do you know that one of the “byproducts” of ethanol production is a high protein animal feed? I bet not...
The commodity value of the raw material in the cost of food has barely kept up with inflation. Food prices are not going up because of the commodities that are used to make them - it’s manufacturing overhead and government regulation & taxation.
An email sent to me.
“I do not think it is my place to advise anyone about anything however, the following is a must read if we ever intend to get this country back on it’s feet. The best example that can be given of just how true this is will come to you the next time you go to the gas station and fill you car.
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered: if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, why do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered: if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, why do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don’t have the constitutional authority to vote on appropriations.
The House of Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen and one President - 536 human beings out of our 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.
In 1913, Congress delegated its constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a reason: they have no legal authority. They cannot legally coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do anything.
I don’t care if they offer a politician $1,000,000 in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he/she votes.
These 536 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this con game, regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.
No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stands up and criticizes the President for creating deficits.
The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for approving appropriations and taxes.
Who is the Speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party.
She and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want.
If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto, if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable that a nation of 300 million can’t replace 536 people who stand convicted — by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.
There’s nary a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly, or indirectly, to those 536 people.
When you fully grasp the plain truth that 536 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.
If the Marines are in IRAQ , it’s because they want them in IRAQ .
If they don’t participate in Social Security, but are on an elite retirement plan, not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Don’t let these 536 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish ... to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject ... to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.
Above all, don’t let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy”, “inflation” or “politics”
that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 536 people - and they alone - are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
Nice post.
Thanks.
July 08 wheat futures were $5.16/bu in April of 2007 and $8.51/bu in 2008 a 164% increase. The figures for the flour show a 328% increase. The increase in price is not all because of wheat prices. Ethanol is not causing a shortage of corn. If we had a shortage we would not still be exporting corn. Just how are farmers to pay for increased costs. Map fertilizer was $225/ton it is now over $1200 for next spring. The cheap subsidized food era may be over.
Ethanol use in the United States isn’t causing food shortages in Haiti and elsewhere.
According to the information by the USDA exports of corn and wheat is at record levels and soybeans was down from the year before but higher than 2 and 4 years ago.
http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/static/files/snd_cbt.pdf
From the information above
Corn production in 2008 13,074 Million Bushels
Corn Production in 2003 8,967 Million Bushels
An increase in five years of 4,107 Million Bushels.
Corn for ethanol used in 2008 3,100 Million Bushels.
Yield per acre 2003 129.3
Yield per acre 2008 151.1
Land used to grow corn went up about 16%
Looks to me that the farmers so far has produced ahead of ethanol’s demand.
Acres planted and production of Wheat hasn’t been out of the ordinary. 2004 to 2006 looked like good weather lead to bumper crops but the acres planted was about the same as now.
As for the effect of corn on food prices.
1 bushel of corn produces
5.6 pounds of beef
13 pounds of pork
28 pounds of catfish
33 pounds of chicken.
If a bushel costs $5 the cost per pound
Beef 89 cents a pound
Pork 38 cents a pound
Catfish 18 cents a pound
Chicken 15 cents a pound
Assume that the average dairy cow eats 15lbs of corn a day and make 8 gallons of milk. Assume that the price of corn per bushel is $6 and that there is 56lbs of corn in a bushel. The cost to feed the cow one day is 1.56. divided the cost by the gallons of milk produced would be about 20 cents of a gallon cost to feed corn at the price of $6 a bushel. Sure you have cows not producing milk and bulls but most dairy farms I know grass feed most of the time so 20 cents a gallon sounds about right.
Now lets look at the rise in prices.
Percent change in commodity prices since January 1st
aluminum 29.2
barley 7.5
cocoa 25.9
coffee 23.5
copper 26.3
corn 21.2
cotton 32.0
gold 17.4
lead 32.7
oats 33.8
oil 6.8
silver 37.8
tin 15.5
wheat 32.7
zinc 20.5
Can you explain the government ethanol subsidies distorting all those other commodity prices?
From 1971 to 1974 commodities prices in general rose 134%
From 1977 to 1980 commodities prices rose 78%
As March 07 the current rise in all commodities prices was 88%
What does 1971-1974, 1977-1980 and March 07 to current have in common. It wasn’t a shortage of grain but the devaluation of the dollar.
Do you realize the average American works only 40 days a year to pay for all the food he eats yet works 116 days to pay his taxes.
Which brings me to what I consider is behind all this anti ethanol hysteria. The US government is devaluing the dollar in order to save our bankers. This means that all commodities which has real value will increase in price when traded for something with declining value such as the US dollar.
But the public tends to get mad if they see prices increase so our politicians pulled out their play book from the 1970’s and saw that blaming the producers of commodities was the best way to distract the public from their own actions. We blamed OPEC not Nixon for reducing the value of the dollar. If you was selling a product that you was getting a full dollar for and now they was offering you a dollar only worth 75 cents you would raise the price of your product to 1.25 to get the value of a full dollar.
About 6 months ago all the conservatives media and the liberal media got the same talking points. Ethanol has its problems such as less energy than gasoline but much of the current barrage has gone to doom and gloom exaggeration in order to get people upset more than other things of more importance such as devaluation of the dollar and taxes being raised.
Somebody or some group is behind the fear mongering. People going to starve, we will run out of water, we are going to have to import 3 times the amount of oil to produce ethanol. I started to do research online and found the facts they putting out wasn’t facts. It is global warming for Free Republic. People get emotional and seem to not think for themselves. Don’t take what people tell you at face value even if it is IBD or Rush or some other conservative.
Interesting tidbit
Support payments in 2005 was 9.6 Billion, in 2006 because of higher corn prices it was reduced to 2.1 Billion. Direct payment to the Ethanol producers was 2.5 Billion. So the taxpayers saved about 5 Billion in one year thanks to higher corn prices.
In other words a higher price of corn saves the taxpayer more than the subsidy for ethanol (which at the current price of gasoline I think should be removed). Another thing to think about is that a few hundred ethanol blenders has less political power than the Farmers. It is politically easier to end corn subsidies through higher prices for corn due in part to ethanol and then end the blending subsidy to the blenders.
I find it odd that the Shell stations in my area are selling Milk for 2.99 a gallon.
What do you expect when over 90% of our legislatures are lawyers who only listen to the people that give them big bucks?
Mark
The ethanol mandate is certainly leading to higher food prices. 25% of the corn crop is devoted to ethanol. Such a large shift in demand will have lots of potential for upward price pressure on food. Unfortunately, the mandates are getting much larger. Nearly 1/3 of the corn crop will be needed to meet the increasing mandate in the next few years.
Corn based ethanol is pure pork. Without the subsidies, mandates, and import tariffs, demand for corn based ethanol would drop dramatically. The food to fuel policy is madness. When will the ethanol backers admit the madness of this policy? The policy is already boondoggle without the dramatic rise in mandated biofuel. When the full mandate happens, boondoggle will be a huge understatement.
That does not explain a 300% increase in wheat prices in the last year. Plus, you completely ignored the undisputed fact that US wheat production is at its lowest level in 60 years. Government regulation and manufacturing problems did not create this problem in a single year. When you pay farmers and the oil industry to grow corn for fuel, somebody’s gonna get hit — and its us.
You got it right — It’s a back door subsidy paid to oil companies and passed on to farmers when they purchase corn.
Swiss-Keep telling the truth.After awhile even
Freepers do get educated.
Main points to consider.——
In last 10 yrs farmers have increased corn production
for food and feed stock 31%..... plus the extra needed
for ethanol.
Many other nations used to export food hurting their
people, and now they are doing the right thing, cutting
exports, but this creates shortages in places that don’t
have viable ag economy to match needs.
Farmers get no price supports now, and oil companies got
about 4 billion in tax credits(no pmts just credits
like the depletion allowances of 20 times more they get).
Suppose corn prices drop and say go a dollar a bushel
less than production costs, and then you have to prop up
farms with 14 billion for corn pmts to farms, plus
many more billions on other products as they would drop
also. So maybe best to just phase out BIG OILS credit
and straighten out investors and speculators the
major factor in product prices being driven up.Oil also.
Farm groups the other day asked the FTC to get
speculators slowed down and require a little more
investment risk in commodities. FTC refused. Maybe
Congress will fix it. They have the power, but many
want high food and controversy to win WH change
this year. But they are playing with monsters, oil
included being speculated up, that may bite them.
It ain’t ethanol, as the more valuable part of what
comes out of refinery, high protein feed makes about
4 lbs of meat out of each bushel when feed to critters. And if it is all feed you would multiply that
by 3.5 billion bushels going though process and
you have about 14 billion lbs of meat. Ethanol
will be about 7 billion gal from same bunch of
corn.Plus other products.It ain’t ethanol, it
is just a whipping boy to cover to hide all other
problems mainly specuators and high energy.Ed
How many gallons of biofuel does a Democrat Congressman yield?
Wheat has only doubled in a year, a 100%
increase, Look at CBOT. But that means that
there is 12 cents worth of wheat in a loaf instead
of 6 cents. The rest is energy cost for middlemen
and/or greed on their part, retailers costs,etc,
mostly hit by big energy rises. Said rises are a lot of
effect, of rampant speculation in food and oil.Ed
Bump for later read, looks very good but I am seeing double.
If you pumped out Teddy you’d get a bunch.....
The plan isn’t to put whole corn crop into
ethanol, as they plan half coming from other sources
and imports..The corn acreage is 93 million acres,
and 1/4 goes to refinery. That will produce 7 Billion gals from 23 Million acres. If they increase acreage by a third there would be 30 million more, giving another 7 Billion
gals, plus more. And plus they increase production per
acre about 3-4% every year now for over a decade.
And the extra acreage is out there as we have
about 80 million acres underused/unused.And we could increase other crop acres also.Ed
(due to pubbie voters who were SOOOOoooo smart to vote in the RATs to "teach the pubbies a lesson"
Yep. That worked well.
Now the same upside down thinkers aren't going to sully their precious 'principles' to vote for McCain - that'll work well too.
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