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US Secretary of State admits biofuels raises food prices
tgdaily.com — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has admitted that the increased production and use of biofuels has helped raise food prices around the world.
PeterNorton- 141 diggs
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- gubatron2, on 04/29/2008, -1/+14Ban those fuels then bitch
- DrDragun, on 04/30/2008, -0/+1And delay the problem for 20 or 50 years until the world's petroleum fields are exhausted? Then what? A new technology will magically spring up to take its place?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubbert_peak
You need a gradual handoff, over decades. It takes a long time to build up infrastructure and such, not to mention production technologies. You can't build a biofuels or hydrogen industry from scratch in 5 years when you suddenly need it.
- DrDragun, on 04/30/2008, -0/+1And delay the problem for 20 or 50 years until the world's petroleum fields are exhausted? Then what? A new technology will magically spring up to take its place?
- BigManOnCampus, on 04/29/2008, -10/+4No no no no, you guys have got it all wrong. This is our "opec"... if we continue to threaten to use biofuels and convert a lot of our food into ethanol, then the countries that jack up oil prices are left with an uncomfortable choice, trying to eat their crude oil, or dealing with civil unrest. Personally I like the idea of rich dictators dealing with revolt. This is what we should have done instead of invading Iraq, just convert our extra food that we normally give away or sell dirt cheap into ethanol, then let the rest of the world deal with their food shortage. Guaranteed political changes.
- carpespasm, on 04/30/2008, -2/+1That or disparate countries waging war on the US to get something to eat.
- mCanada, on 04/30/2008, -0/+4Burning massive amounts of food for automotive use is probably the worst communal decision that's been made in recent memory. You'll need to convert ridiculous amounts of crops to make the smallest of dents in middle eastern oil dependence and if we got to that point the inflationary pressures created by skyrocketing food prices will dampen an already recessionary economy. What percentage of an average families budget is allocated to food? Quite a bit I would guess. The net result is poorer middle class families who now on top of oil can't afford food. We need simple, cheap electric vehicles that have sustainable sources to power them - nuclear / hydro etc.
- Emused, on 04/29/2008, -3/+4Here is another bit of insight for Ms. Rice, sending young men to fight old mens wars, thins out the population of both countries involved. Damn who would've thought that would happen.Repercussions, gotta love'em.
- jstohler, on 04/30/2008, -2/+10Even when the Bush Administration admits it's wrong about something, it's powerless to change its own policies.
- carpespasm, on 04/30/2008, -1/+4being dogmatic beholden to irrational presumptions will do that to you.
- cg4et, on 04/30/2008, -0/+8Did she also mention that there are children in the developing world who are going to sleep tonight with no food because I kept putting their food in my gas tank all day today?
- masterm1nd, on 04/30/2008, -0/+2/because Al Gore said it would save the world.
- MisterFreeze, on 04/30/2008, -3/+7In other news, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has admitted that people need air to breathe. I love this administration's policy of waiting until something is long past completely obvious before admitting to it. It really speaks to their credibility.
- mintblogger, on 04/30/2008, -0/+0Europe and US is using large percentage of Corn for bio-fuel.
- smacksaw, on 04/30/2008, -0/+4I wished Ron Paul had talked about this in the CNN interview. He talked about healthcare going to the free market and that when gov't gets involved they mess things up, but this was the apt analogy. The free market, in it's most basic concept was what our agrarian founding fathers had in mind.
The free market for food is pretty simple. Since the idea of barter came into the brain of cavemen we've had a free market. Getting gov't involved is messing this up. There are reasonable roles for gov't - like making sure that food is safe and enforcing regulations. But this is not a good idea.
Even on the far left, past the socialists and towards the communists, most people know that the one area that you don't want government interfering too much is your food supply. I don't think the free market works in circumstances that are not inherently geared towards fairness or true competition. Especially monopolies like public utilities. But with food, all we need is for gov't to be there if there is a problem, like someone dumping food into a market, problems with water, an outbreak of disease/contamination.
Government should get out of agriculture and let people grow whatever is profitable for them. If we MUST offer incentives, offer them only for leftover waste from farming. Growing food specifically for fuel is stupid. Growing algae or hemp is not a bad idea. And a great idea is taking leftovers from farming and converting them into other things. Zero waste. That's what we should be rewarding.
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