[dynachrome]

Lot's of unintended consequences of switching to etanol.

[kinoxi]

We're all just gonna have to sit around and cry now. Hopefully the wonderful government will come and save us from our despair.

[P-40]

If the author has a clue, he lost it somewhere.

[goldstategop]

On a related note in the column, white Democrats in Colorado voted against school choice for Latino children.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Minn]

Let them eat ethanol

I've been on that liquid ethonol diet for years.

[goldstategop]

Let the poor eat white flour tortillas! Ethanol, full steam ahead! Liberal compassion is so heart-warming.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[chaos_5]

Ethanol from corn is foolish. Corn produces far less sugar per acer than sugar caine. This whole ethanol/energy independence is just another scheme to subsidize corn farmers.

As far as it taking food from the mouths of the starving. BS, they are staving which means the don't have food now. LOL

Seriously, countries like Africa and Mexico have plenty of rich farm land that can be developed to support their growing populations.

If you are looking for an organic source of fuel, try bio-desil. At least that way you can directly use the plants oils rather than have a bacteria "eat" the sugar in it and then try and distill the ethanol it produces. Furthermore, the BTU of ethanol sucks!

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>On Point: Let them eat ethanol

We do - in that one of the byproducts of the ethanol production process is animal feed...eat beef, pork, chicke, etc. that has been fed distillers grains. Oh, yeah, then there's other co-products that end up in the food chain too, like cheese curls, pancake mix, corn oil, and CO2 that can be used to make soft drinks. Let us all eat ethanol.

[Publius6961]

I love false dichotomies...

[gridlock]

If ethanol was being produced without a subsidy, I would have no problem. The new use of corn would change the dynamics of the market, but that's life. The only remedy would be to implement price controls or ban the production of ethanol. Either remedy would cause more problems than it fixes.

But the fact is that ethanol is being produced with a huge honkin' subsidy. This is a big problem. The subsidy allows ethanol producers to out-bid people who wish to consume food as food, using government money. The government will then, no doubt, turn around and subsidize the food to make sure nobody starves. This way lies madness.

[art_rocks]

Does this mean less money to farmers to not grow things?

[ozzymandus]

So we're going to starve to death if we make ethanol? Just how stupid is this author?

[snoringbear]

You got that right dynachrome.

Ethanol is based upon artifical economices. It takes approximately 25% more energy to create a gallon of ethanol that is produced. Secondly, when used in automobiles, ethanol gets only about 75% the mileage of gasoline. So, when one factors all this, the net net energy cost of ethanol is about twice as expensive as gasoline. Lastly, the "unintended consequence of all this ethanol activity is that the price of grain based food products is starting to climb dramatically. When the price of Cheerios and Corn Flakes doubles in the grocery stores, listen to those greenie soccer mom's squeal....