Hey! I remember the original.
Posted on 06/18/2010 4:17:44 PM PDT by bananaman22
You may never have never heard of Patricia Woertz, or Archer Daniels Midland. Woertz is the CEO of ADM, America’s 27th largest company, and it’s the largest company headed by a female in the US. The reason you ought to care is that Woertz and ADM have the power to make your life more expensive – much more expensive. And they have been aggressively exercising that power for over 30 years.
ADM is the largest primary food processor in the country – it turns corn and soybeans (among other products) into a host of consumer products: corn flakes, cornstarch, corn syrup, corn meal, popcorn, and hundreds of other items. One of those other items is ethanol. Ethanol is a pure grain alcohol that, when blended with gasoline, yields gasohol – the E10 or E85 blends. Ethanol has long been touted as a path to energy independence, the way to reduce, or even eliminate, oil imports.
More accurately, though, ethanol is the latest incarnation of snake oil. It is an inferior product in every facet, and the entire ethanol industry would disappear overnight if the federal government would perform its intended function – the service and protection of its people – and end ethanol subsidies once and for all.
The origin of ethanol as a national fuel source can be traced back to the national hysteria surrounding the oil shocks of the 1970’s. An enterprising Dwayne Andreas (then-chairman of ADM) managed to convince President Carter that a domestically produced fuel substitute could reduce or even eliminate dependence on foreign oil. Andreas managed to secure massive federal subsidies for both the production and consumption of ethanol – and a new “industry” was born, albeit one that would not survive off the omnipresent life-support of the federal government. Sadly, as can only be expected of a product that cannot compete on its own merits, ethanol has proven to be a success only as a case in corporate welfare, not as a viable form of alternative fuel. Full article at: The Ethanol Con
Gee another oil company sponsored article about ethanol.
In the 70’s “gasahol” was a big deal. And we’d put it in our cars without any changes to the carburation system. Didn’t help mileage one bit.
I also remember when unleaded first came out the nozzle wouldn’t fit in the older cars. But with a spinkle from a combine (grain harvester) you could “enlarge” the hole the nozzle went in and buy the cheaper unleaded gas.
Older lead gas nozzles wouldn’t fit into newer unleaded filler pipe. Prevented you from putting leaded gas into car made for unleaded.
There you go. I knew it was one way or the other. I thought it prevented me from putting the new unleaded gas in my older car. Either way one was cheaper than the other and it made it worth “banging” it with something to spread the hole a little wider. From $1.03 cents to $1.06 cents a gallon made a difference.
Hey! I remember the original.
LLS
“Gee another oil company sponsored article about ethanol”
Can’t dispute the facts, so you ridicule the source. Not a great way to win a debate. Ethanol should be banned from everything other than adult beverages
This article is too littered with half-truths and pseudo facts to warrant full refutation. Let’s just start by separating “biofuels” into at least two categories: corn-based ethanol, and biodiesel.
Most experts see a transition from corn to cellulosic feedstocks for ethanol production. The author neglects to mention that prior to corn ethanol, farmers were being paid by the government NOT to plant crops.
Biodiesel is a different matter, and I’ll agree that it will be too costly (even if subsidized) unless and until a cheap, sustainable low-cost feedstock is found. More than 60% of existing biodiesel plant capacity is idle and thus far no one has figured how to commercialize high oil-content feedstocks like algae.
For extra credit: What is the least-subsidized fuel of all?
Answer: Biodiesel. The $1 per gallon subsity expired at the first of this year and is still on Harry Reid’s desk. So the fact is right now today, biodiesel receives less gov’t subsidy than any other fuel.
Duane Andreas, the head of ADM is a HUGE HUGE HUGE admirer of Fidle Castro, and openly boasted that he “owned” the state dept back in the ‘90s.
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