Posted on 01/20/2016 4:09:11 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
"...Corn has long been king in Iowa, the nation's top corn-producing state, implanting in Iowa voters a sentiment that every candidate must cheer Washington's backing for ethanol. Since 2011, though, that universal backing has been eroding.
Congress decided at the end of 2011 not to renew a tax credit that cost the government $6 billion a year. Critics of the government’s ethanol policy then set their targets on the ethanol mandate, which requires refineries to blend an increasing amount of biofuels into the U.S. gasoline supply each year.
At the ethanol summit Tuesday, Mr. Trump also read a prepared statement opposing Congress "changing any part of the RFS," or Renewable Fuel Standard, the mandate's formal name.
This year's presidential election is testing the corn industry's political power more than ever, with Republican candidates seeking to find a middle ground between repealing the mandate outright, a move supported by the party's conservative base, and phasing it out.
Mr. Cruz, who is leading in the latest polling ahead of Iowa's caucus, has sought a balance between backing a powerful political constituency and eschewing "big-government" policies the conservative base abhors.
Mr. Cruz has faced criticism from the ethanol industry primarily through America's Renewable Future, the group Mr. Branstad works for. Mr. Branstad's father, the governor, on Tuesday urged Iowa Republicans not to vote for Mr. Cruz because of his lack of support for the ethanol mandate...."
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
I support Trump using ethanol to boost support in Iowa. It’s a brilliant strategy.
Congress already passed it, he just need to say “follow policy.”
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TRUMP (PEACE BE UPON HIS HOLY SOUL) sure has wrapped up the “low-information vote. Cruz wants to phase them out; Trump wants to keep the subsidies/mandates flowing despite the fact that it increases costs and makes the economy less efficient.
But since you're too lazy or stupid to try to find information to rebut my chart, here's the Bureau of Land Management chart for corn prices, looking eerily similar to the one above, LOL. Good enough, or is the font not to your liking?
And my farm is in TN, which does nothing to change my point or my reasoning. Ideas are not dependent upon the identity of the speaker. Only morons think otherwise.
http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-1/images/1-17-chart1.png
The subsidy ended in 2011.
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I guess that you don’t comprehend that MANDATES have the SAME EFFECT AS SUBSIDIES. They distort the markets and make people do and use things they would not otherwise do in their absence. If DONALD TRUMP (BLESSED IS HIS NAME AND HOLY ARE HIS MANDATES) MANDATES that utility companies MUST buy and use SOLAR POWER for 20% of their energy source, the utility companies will pay WHATEVER IT TAKES to buy that 20% AND PASS THE COSTS ON TO THE CUSTOMERS. The effects of mandates is the SAME as the effects of subsidies-—they increase costs to the end user.
Having discussions with TRUMP (HOLY IS HIS NAME) supporters is beginning to bear a resemblance to discussions with ‘RAT wackos. The Trumpsters are being led, inch by inch, by GLORIOUS LEADER in a LEFTWARD direction-—and they are blind to where they are going.
Now, that there is funny! LOL!
First off, with the juvenile name calling from afar. It doesn’t make you sound tough or educated. Bureau of Land Management for corn prices. Now that is funny. . The two charts have little in common. The second has no cost of production comparison. Your current chart shows price went up because production went down. In terms of inflation adjusted dollars corn is darn cheap. Corn was $2 in 1950.
So tell us, what quantity of Ag products do you raise in Tenn?
The production of Ethanol is a net energy consumer i.e. the energy inputs of sowing,growing,harvesting, transport and distillation of Ethanol is more than the energy outputs from the use of Ethanol, never mind the damage it does to engines. So in a time of transport fuel shortages it actually makes the situation worse!
Trump is no different from the Clintons, he'll say anything to get elected.
Rat wackos. Nice name calling. Ask yourself who the 50 million food stamp recipients vote for, who the affies vote for, who the criminal invaders vote for, and who the rest of the deadbeats support? Is it Trump? Is it Cruz? Why do you spend time attacking and name calling?
Gross economic ignorance. Declining agricultural commodity prices would drive out the least efficient producers until a new equilibrium was reached; people could eat at a price they were willing to pay, and resources would be freed up for more efficient uses.
and happy prosperous farmers.
Welfare always makes its recipients happy.
Trump is the welfare-for-votes GOP candidate.
I hope you are wrong about Trump. No one knows. All politicians speak to the crowd, for this is the game of politics.
No, it is not. Some corn is producing 400 gallons/acre. ETOh is captured sunlight and CO2 extracted from air. These are the primary inputs, along with fertilizer. Plus, after ETOH is extracted, the remaining mash is a high protein feed for livestock. Corn stalks are also fed to cattle. Most corn is dry land produced. Engines last longer than ever. Have you checked car longevity today?
And while that equilibrium was being found, chaos would run rampant throughout the country and the economy and whoever allowed it to happen would face the wrath of the voters.
Welfare always makes its recipients happy.
It's welfare that benefits the whole country with stable food prices and food supplies. The wealth of this country is linked to that stability.
.The scientists at Cornell ( no bastion of free markets) appear to think it is. Etanol a net consumer of Energy
As for engines it seems that a number of experts seem to think it does. See here
“It makes so much sense to burn our food supply while decreasing the mileage our cars get while increasing the amount of pollution in the atmosphere, and increase the wear and tear on the engines those cars use. And while we are at why not just destroy small, air-cooled engines for lawn mowers, chainsaws and the like? That’ll really stimulate the economy because people will have to buy more of them to replace the destroyed ones!”
“Donald Trump said Tuesday that federal regulators should increase the amount of ethanol blended into the nation’s gasoline supply.”
First debate Trump said cash for favors are okay. It appears he wants to use the cash of the citizenry in the form of increased ethanol and associated repair and replacement of equipment not to mention decreased mileage to pay for Iowa votes for himself.
Sorry, TRUMP is bringing out the urge to feed at the federal trough in his supporters. TRUMP is pandering by promising federal largesse and it is working. He’s beginning to appear more and more like a ‘RAT and he is leading his mindless followers in that direction, IMHO. If Donald Trump tries to “buy votes” by pandering, his mindless followers come in and say it (whatever it is...in this case ethanol MANDATES) is GOOD. Before all is said and done we may have TRUMP-PHONES. Conservatism is dissipating before our eyes at the hands of a pied-piper, and it is a sad thing to see.
“Trump is for sale.
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Trump (BLESSED BE HIS NAME) has already sold himself to the special interests, the rent-seekers and the crony capitalists feeding off of subsidies and mandates. Many, in their rapture, are too blinded to see that.”
Trump also apparently believes the vast majority of us are either stupid or are for sale, his pandering is so apparent.
And while that equilibrium was being found, chaos would run rampant throughout the country and the economy
More nonsense - markets are constantly equilibrating without causing chaos. An orderly phase-out of agriwelfare will cause no chaos.
You should try farming and tell me about welfare. Where is your welfare job? I would challenge you to do a days work in the summer on my farm and show me the welfare.
“I see the messianic DONALD TRUMP (BLESSED BE HIS HOLY NAME) is leading his followers further to the left as he PANDERS FOR VOTES...and the supporters mindlessly follow him.”
I’m starting to see what you mean.
So you are saying that farm work is welfare? I challenge you to assist with hay harvest. I will show you welfare.
BTW, since you consider farm work welfare, where is your welfare employment located? What nonsense.
My employer gets no handout from government either directly or through mandated purchases of its product.
Read the article: this thread is about the ethanol mandate, which is welfare for ethanol producers.
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