Bush’s Ethanol Blunder
The Ethanol Blunder has happened. President Bush in his 2007 State of the Union Address set our course for an all ethanol fuel nation. The “decider” proclaimed our nation to go, team, go ethanol all the way.
I thought then, along with many others, that ethanol from corn was a whole-pot wager in a gamble that had poor odds. Disastrous odds. Zero odds. See Unum’s posted article:
“Bush’s State of the Union — Should We Accept His Words?”
and the comments in that post. Then on 10 March 07, our President on his grand tour down in S. America announced that America would buy a lot of ethanol from countries that grow lots of corn.
Thank you, Mr. President, for fostering upon us another of your blunders — the Ethanol Blunder which may become //is becoming, it looks like// a blunder far worse than the Iraq War blunder, if that’s possible.
Thank you, Mr. President, for offsetting the growth of food crops with all-but-nothing corn crops for ethanol production.
Thank you, Mr. President, for leading our nation into paying ever-increasing, impossible prices for food, and for the nationwide result of empty shelves in food banks for the poor and the not-so-poor.
Thank you, Mr. President, for political turmoil developing where foreign leaders are blamed for the lack of food in their country.
And thank you, Mr. President, for leading the world — yes, the entire world — into a worldwide food shortage crisis with impossible costs for any crumbs left at all, for the black markets for food, for untold starvation and for an empty-kitchen, empty-stomach slaughter that is truly worldwide, now occurring in country after country unless…. unless something is done. I don’t know what.
Who would have thought this could have happened by promoting massive ethanol production? But, yes, Mr. President, you set the course for this disaster in your 2007 State of the Union address. Yes, ethanol all the way, all the way to the graveyard.
Mr. President, you wanted to leave your mark in history before you left office. Well, you did, with the Iraq War and now the Ethanol Blunder. You should have been impeached back in 2007, before you learned how to pronounce “eth-a-nol.” But who would have thought all this could possibly happen? Duh!
–”Hey, Gawk, pass the potatoes.” And Gawk quacks to say, “What potatoes?”
Yes, indeed! “And what bread, what rice, what corn-on-the-cob?”
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New Scientist
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Associated Press
News quotes re Food Crisis:
“…when the U.S. Congress realized the potential of ethanol, corn was diverted there and Mexico was left high and dry.” … “The corn turned out to be not that cheap.”
“…ballooning oil prices, a biofuel boom that is gobbling up farmland, and a voracious Chinese market for food. Get used to it, they say - the era of cheap food is over.”
“…rice alone has more than tripled in price since January. Corn, wheat and other staples also have soared beyond the ability of millions to pay for a healthy diet.”
“…Deadly riots have broken out from Bangladesh to Egypt to Burkina Faso. In Haiti, they cost the prime minister his job. At least 34 countries have seen protests in recent months, according to the U.N.’s World Food Program.”
–quotes from DAVID KOOP (Associated Press) May 10, 2008.
This might be a little inconvenient to remember but didn’t Al Gore cast the tie breaking vote back in 1994 to mandate ethanol as an oxygenate be added to gasoline and therefore start this ethanol mandate ball rolling? Everyone hailed him as a hero for the planet. Now let’s blame Bush??? Come on…let’s give credit where credit is due.
Hey, Mike. Why not blame it on the President? — Gore didn’t become President, Bush did, and what ALL has happened, has happened on his watch. Especially ethanol’s overkill hype. Okay, but who’s first to blame, if anyone? Besides Gore? Does it matter? Should we blame Henry Ford? (see my Henry Ford and “Fuel of the Future” comment on Cerebral’s “Choose ONE TWO of the Following: Ferrari Speed / 100% Green” posted on February 07th, 2007 on b4b.)
Moreover, re the beginnings of today’s ethanol blunder, check this out — it’s my comment on another blog on how I think the ethanol-at-the-expense-of-corn idea started and how it got out of hand: Here is that comment, as is, copied from John’s Blog.
Stan Nodvik on March 14th, 2008 at 12:43 pm — comment on Corn biofuel from John’s Blog:
I think part of the why-reason is that on day one, the press/magazines/TV/Internet media all thought that making ethanol from corn was one hell of a great idea as an alternative to foreign oil. Great story copy! — much interest! — it generated acceptance through massive PR; sold all of us on the concept. This came first, somewhat like how an idea for turning lead into gold sounds good at first. Any further corn-to-ethanol details involved were ignored. That’s my opinion of why and where it started. Later, Congress (those who now have a stake in this) plus lobbyists equal farm subsidies. And, perhaps, in the long term when the cost of fuel gets higher (maybe like $14 a gallon), corn as ethanol will become cost-effective, but I doubt that Congress will eliminate corn subsidies then; business as usual. Meanwhile….
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Biofuel production guidelines were suggested by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the June 2008 summit in Rome on the food price crisis. It was reported that he said policy guidelines on biofuel production should be put in place because of its impact on food production. Biofuels have played a role in driving up food prices to the point of provoking riots in some countries.
Hello, Mr. G.W. Bush!
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The flood disaster in Iowa and other midwestern states will mushroom higher in human costs than anticipated. In fact, with worldwide implications. The rains and flood waters washed away people, houses, and this year’s corn crop. I have visited there like the rest of us by visual media. It doesn’t look good, does it?
Will the U.S.’s fixed ethanol guidelines and set production goals be shuffled aside by the Bush administration? I doubt it. But, these “corn crop laws” should be curtailed or be adjusted lower because without the expected corn crop this year — it’s too late to replant — logic tells me it can only mean a further worsening of the worldwide food shortage. It becomes either ethanol or food, in a big way.
Moreover, with less ethanol extracted from less corn this year, will the price of gasoline and diesel start to skyrocket? Will higher transportation costs and food processing costs work together to booster-drive food prices even higher across-the-board for Americans and for those in other countries? Good Gawk! Ohhh, what havoc Bush has festered upon the American people!
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