Posted on 01/27/2016 6:08:34 AM PST by Kaslin
Cars run on fuel. Politicians run on votes, and they'll do almost anything to get them. That includes supporting mandates that force us to use ethanol, a fuel made from corn that Iowa farmers grow.
They support ethanol because Iowa is the first state to vote on presidential candidates. Candidates want to look strong at the start of the race, so every four years they become enthusiastic ethanol supporters. Even those who claim they believe in markets pander to Iowa's special interests.
Donald Trump, who doesn't seem to have a consistent political philosophy aside from bashing critics and foreigners, now has joined the ethanol-praising club. In fact, Trump says regulators should force gas stations to increase the amount of ethanol they use. It's a convenient way to attack his Iowa rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., who courageously says the mandate should be phased out.
Cruz is right. Legally mandating that a certain percentage of fuel used be ethanol is a bad idea for several reasons:
First, mandating ethanol means more land must be plowed to grow corn for fuel. The Department of Energy estimates that if corn ethanol replaced gasoline completely, we'd need to turn all cropland to corn -- plus 20 percent more land on top of that.
Second, requiring ethanol fuel raises the price of corn -- bad news for consumers who must pay more for food.
Third, although ethanol's supporters claim burning corn is "better for the environment," that's not true. Once you add the emissions from growing, shipping and processing the corn, ethanol creates more pollution than oil. Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Clean Air Task Force now oppose its use.
Finally, because corn is grown in America, promoters said ethanol would make us more energy independent. Even if the "independence" argument were valid, fracking accomplishes much more. (Anyway, it isn't a valid argument. Trade with Mexico and Canada is just fine. We don't need total independence.)
Since Trump is a businessman, I assume he realizes that ethanol is an expensive boondoggle that wouldn't survive in a competitive market. But in Iowa Trump says, "Ethanol is terrific."
Dr. Ben Carson didn't go that far but according to the Washington Examiner said that it would be wrong to end the subsidies. "People have made plans based on those kind of things," he says. "You can't just pull out the rug out from under people."
It sounds like most politicians want to get rid of subsidies in principle, but never right now -- certainly not in the middle of their campaigns. Sen. Marco Rubio says he'd support ending the mandate -- after another seven years.
At the Iowa Agriculture Summit, Chris Christie sounded annoyed that President Obama hasn't been more supportive of ethanol subsidies, saying, "Certainly anybody who's a competent president would get that done!"
Bernie Sanders, I-Ver., criticized subsidies in the past, but on Iowa public radio he sounded as if he loves the boondoggle: "We have to be supportive of that effort -- and take every step that we could, and in every way we can, including the growth of the biofuels industry."
Of course, big-government Democrats always want to subsidize more. Hillary Clinton says ethanol "holds the promise for not only more fuel for automobiles but for aviation ... and for military aircraft; we could be fueling so much air traffic with biofuels. We have just begun to explore what we can do."
Sure. Explore away! That's what market competition does. Entrepreneurs constantly explore options in search of profit. But that's very different from government forcing taxpayers to fund one particular fuel.
Only Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken.) have consistently said that the market, not politicians, should choose fuels. Unfortunately, that principled stance hasn't brought them much support. Presidential-race betting at ElectionBettingOdds.com has Cruz dropping and Paul tied for last.
Energy expert Jerry Taylor is right to say that running for office in Iowa not only means you must praise Christianity; it means being "willing to sacrifice children to the corn god."
Banana republic corruption.
No rule of law. Rubber stamp legislature, lawmaking by the judiciary and petty bureaucrats, demagoguery and criminal behavior by the exec branch and (federal) law enforcement agencies.
Payoffs to and from cronies everywhere you turn.
Welcome to 21st century Amerika
I think that just because Iowa is the first state to decide in primaries, and therefore they think they can hold the rest of the nation’s taxpayers hostage over corn subsidies, is very narrow minded and selfish. Kudos to any candidate that stands up for the free market.
Obuma knifed the keystone pipeline, loss of jobs, no oil, no fuel...
Obuma knifed the coal mines in PA, and around, loss of jobs, no fuel...
Obuma knifed the drilling for oil, loss of jobs, no fuel...
Some of the candidates are against ethanol, some are for it, I'm looking at it as a American jobs, resource thing, not a campaign item....
We look at the middle east, Iran just over took Iraq, big oil there, OPEC, Saudi and other countries over there all have oil and lots of it, that means higher prices, we don't have jobs in this country anymore, less money to buy high priced fuel...
Obuma won't drill or frake for oil, so what do we have left?
Corn or wind...wind is dangerous, to expensive and the birds get caught in the blades....so now we come down to corn or ethanol, it runs our cars, isn't as expensive as OPEC oil, can heat our homes if need be, and is an income jobs source...
We right now have how many manufacturing places? We have right now how many jobs from those manufacturing places? We need jobs people, not hamburger flipping jobs, but real jobs...
We used to grow cotton in the southern states, send them north to the manufactures to make textiles, not any more, sent out of the country...we used to have car manufactures that built cars, not anymore, sent out of the country...and the list goes on...
I guess when there isn't any fuel, you can cut a hole in the ceiling of your home for a pipe to let the smoke go out and burn wood, if you can find any trees the government hasn't taken, or you walk to work, the grocery stores won't be an option, to expensive, so if you can find a plot of land that you can claim, grow a garden...maybe there will be a neighbor you can barter with for a couple of gallons of real cows milk, or a chicken for eggs...
Go ahead and knock ethanol...we'll see what happens when you have to walk instead of riding in your car...
There are 16 wind turbines on my family’s ranch. I have NEVER seen a dead bird around any of them.
Good, could you explain first hand about wind turbines and how they work? All we know is what the media tells us...
I’m no fan of the wind farms (sorry about the pun), but I see it as a much better return on our tax money than Solyndra, etc. At least these actually produce a sizeable amount of electricity for our state.
As I understand, farmers have moved from food corn to a breed of corn for Ethanol, resulting in greatly increased prices for food corn due to lower supply and higher demand. If ethanol subsidies were cancelled, farmers would return to food corn, jobs would remain static and supply would increase in the food corn sector.
Uses up good farmland.
Costs more to get it to market in exhaust emitting tanker trucks since it can’t be sent in a pipeline
Where are the enviro-wackos
Ethanol bad, Butanol good.
Don’t like ethanol in my car; hate subsidizing it!
Trump is wrong here.
But then the feds want to control what water you use and how much in your little plot of land. So even growing your own veges on your own land is now regulated. Also bartering is frowned upon by the feds, unless you tell them what you bartered what it is worth and pay taxes.
Bingo, you got it.
Who does?
That’s an amazing claim, and I have to wonder how it’s possible. It seems that it’s quite a common even that birds DO fly into the blades. To say NEVER is amazing!
Commodity corn is animal food. The commodity corn supply and the acres devoted to it have increased to accommodate fuel ethanol demand and commodity corn prices are where they have historically been - around the cost of production. Hybrids for fuel don’t really change the commodity corn market.
The kinds of corn used for immediate human consumption have always been a specialty crop. Big users like Frito-Lay have it grown for them under contract.
I did not say birds never fly into the blades - you are twisting my words. I said none of us have ever found dead or dying birds on the ranch. Maybe because it is more desert-like here & there are fewer birds, I don’t know the reason. But it isn’t an issue here.
Huh? So dead birds by wind turbins wouldn’t necessarily be due to the blades? What am I missing here? But you have NEVER had a dead bird by a blade.
Nevermind, I’m not there so there is no way to prove or disprove your statement. Just seems highly unlikely to a thinking person.
Insult me all you like. It makes no difference to me if you believe me or you don’t.
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