Comments on: Let Them Eat Ethanol! http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/ a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justice Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:45:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Allen in Fort Worth http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-19158 Allen in Fort Worth Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:40:56 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-19158 "Now the law of supply and demand has dictated that the new market for biofuels should reduce the production of corn for food by 25 percent in the U.S....." I'm with Frank and several others on this. Supply and Demand had nothing to do with the % of corn grown for food vs. ethanol. It's been mandated by Congress (and remember all the pandering during the Iowa Caucuses?) . Iowa is going to be a net IMPORTER of corn, it's so profitable. Your democratic congress gives the subsidies to the farmers, the farmers give contributions to congress, the price goes up. See Time magazine's cover story from a few weeks ago. “Now the law of supply and demand has dictated that the new market for biofuels should reduce the production of corn for food by 25 percent in the U.S…..”

I’m with Frank and several others on this. Supply and Demand had nothing to do with the % of corn grown for food vs. ethanol. It’s been mandated by Congress (and remember all the pandering during the Iowa Caucuses?) . Iowa is going to be a net IMPORTER of corn, it’s so profitable.

Your democratic congress gives the subsidies to the farmers, the farmers give contributions to congress, the price goes up. See Time magazine’s cover story from a few weeks ago.

]]> By: pedro http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-19095 pedro Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:20:31 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-19095 Slavery is alive and rampant in the 21st century!!!It's growing by leaps and bounds in tsunami proportions.The ripple of the global rebellion by the poverty-stricken is certain to reach our shores,and when it does, 9 11 will seem meaningless.Human resources development in third world states was critical,and focused mainly on political development.To quote Kwame Nkruma "Seek ye first the political kingdom,and allshall be added unto".Social and economic well being of the masses was put on the back burner.Democracy has its regrets.Because social and economic does not spring to life with political freedom_you have to work at it.American development in the third world,existed to enhance the economy of the american capitalists,a system that led to the repression of human development in its possessions.And here we are today with the new slave master "massa" Corporate America and the new slaves, the poor of the world...... Slavery is alive and rampant in the 21st century!!!It’s growing by leaps and bounds in tsunami proportions.The ripple of the global rebellion by the poverty-stricken is certain to reach our shores,and when it does, 9 11 will seem meaningless.Human resources development in third world states was critical,and focused mainly on political development.To quote Kwame Nkruma “Seek ye first the political kingdom,and allshall be added unto”.Social and economic well being of the masses was put on the back burner.Democracy has its regrets.Because social and economic does not spring to life with political freedom_you have to work at it.American development in the third world,existed to enhance the economy of the american capitalists,a system that led to the repression of human development in its possessions.And here we are today with the new slave master “massa” Corporate America and the new slaves, the poor of the world……

]]> By: John Wilkinson http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18381 John Wilkinson Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:25:51 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18381 OK, my bad, they're not turning corn into gasoline but alcohol, C2H5OH, another simple chemical. same thing principlewise. OK, my bad, they’re not turning corn into gasoline but alcohol, C2H5OH, another simple chemical. same thing principlewise.

]]> By: John Wilkinson http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18380 John Wilkinson Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:13:22 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18380 This is what happens when the greedy, swindling swine are allowed to run amok among the world's ignorant masses and corrupt elites. Regulation of criminal swine's basest fraudulent instincts is a bad thing, you see. If you don't know which end is up, if you didn't have even the most basic education, then you can be easily convinced that shit can be turned into gold and that complicated (and thus relatively scarce) stuff such as food can be turned into oceans of simple stuff such as fuel and that all will be well, and that you can gain energy and profit by spending gargantuan amounts of energy on complicated processes such as growing food and then turning it into low grade fuel. Did you know that food is zillions of times more complicated than fuel? The formula for gasoline (octane) is C8H18. Can someone write out a formula for corn, or a banana? The two worlds are galaxies apart. And those same swine are mean, too -- no food aid for the hungry. And they'll be gone (with your life savings, etc.) when it dawns on you what has been done, when you're left holding the bag. Just like what they did with the S&L fiasco, the dot com, the mortgage mess, the financial and bank mess, the fiscal mess, etc. They are gone -- absconded with our money, and we, on top of that have to BAIL them out with our non-existent money, that they stole from us to feed the multi-headed, insatiable, bottomless-rathole Pentagon hydra with their corrupt defense execs buddies. While we don't get even a penny's worth from our tax dollars for ourselves. When is enough enough? When are we going to start chopping some heads? Returning stolen property and money to rightful owners? It pisses me off that someone who destroys tens of thousands of lives, destroys economies, banking systems, etc., while enriching themselves through outright FRAUD, such swine get 2 years (if that) in a country-club setting with tennis courts, etc, AND they get to keep the stolen goods, while someone who robs a bank of couple thousand dollars gets 20 years to life in maximum security. This is what happens when the greedy, swindling swine are allowed to run amok among the world’s ignorant masses and corrupt elites. Regulation of criminal swine’s basest fraudulent instincts is a bad thing, you see. If you don’t know which end is up, if you didn’t have even the most basic education, then you can be easily convinced that shit can be turned into gold and that complicated (and thus relatively scarce) stuff such as food can be turned into oceans of simple stuff such as fuel and that all will be well, and that you can gain energy and profit by spending gargantuan amounts of energy on complicated processes such as growing food and then turning it into low grade fuel. Did you know that food is zillions of times more complicated than fuel? The formula for gasoline (octane) is C8H18. Can someone write out a formula for corn, or a banana? The two worlds are galaxies apart.

And those same swine are mean, too — no food aid for the hungry. And they’ll be gone (with your life savings, etc.) when it dawns on you what has been done, when you’re left holding the bag. Just like what they did with the S&L fiasco, the dot com, the mortgage mess, the financial and bank mess, the fiscal mess, etc. They are gone — absconded with our money, and we, on top of that have to BAIL them out with our non-existent money, that they stole from us to feed the multi-headed, insatiable, bottomless-rathole Pentagon hydra with their corrupt defense execs buddies. While we don’t get even a penny’s worth from our tax dollars for ourselves.

When is enough enough? When are we going to start chopping some heads? Returning stolen property and money to rightful owners? It pisses me off that someone who destroys tens of thousands of lives, destroys economies, banking systems, etc., while enriching themselves through outright FRAUD, such swine get 2 years (if that) in a country-club setting with tennis courts, etc, AND they get to keep the stolen goods, while someone who robs a bank of couple thousand dollars gets 20 years to life in maximum security.

]]> By: Hue Longer http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18326 Hue Longer Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:13:16 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18326 and yes, I'd name that patty, Patti (I must have causght it from Mary...hey! Typo Mary..hehe) and yes, I’d name that patty, Patti (I must have causght it from Mary…hey! Typo Mary..hehe)

]]> By: Hue Longer http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18325 Hue Longer Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:41:26 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18325 Michael, the poor countries organized them just fine before any patronizing ruses for making things better for them arrived with colonialism and capitalism. If anyone thinks that the US has no blame in the past and in what is currently happening now to countries forced at gunpoint to make trade agreements, they are deluded and willfully uneducated. It's sad too that everything is measured in dollars to explain how well or poor someone is doing. If I never saw a dollar in my life, had a rice Patti or small corn farm, 10 chickens and a personnel food farm, and I took my surplus to a barter market to get medicine and clothing---I'd eat better than the imaginary average family the IMF likes to brag about when 1 dollar goes to 2 dollars a day....but you can't live like that in most places of the world because your surplus has been made worthless by subsidies and shit trade agreements and the wealthy own all of the property. So get off that plot of land, you worthless slave and get your ass into this shoe company- where we'll teach you the value of a dollar Michael, the poor countries organized them just fine before any patronizing ruses for making things better for them arrived with colonialism and capitalism.

If anyone thinks that the US has no blame in the past and in what is currently happening now to countries forced at gunpoint to make trade agreements, they are deluded and willfully uneducated.

It’s sad too that everything is measured in dollars to explain how well or poor someone is doing. If I never saw a dollar in my life, had a rice Patti or small corn farm, 10 chickens and a personnel food farm, and I took my surplus to a barter market to get medicine and clothing—I’d eat better than the imaginary average family the IMF likes to brag about when 1 dollar goes to 2 dollars a day….but you can’t live like that in most places of the world because your surplus has been made worthless by subsidies and shit trade agreements and the wealthy own all of the property. So get off that plot of land, you worthless slave and get your ass into this shoe company- where we’ll teach you the value of a dollar

]]> By: mary http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18264 mary Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:55:29 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18264 Oh dear my typing! that should have been a LOAF of bread not LOAD! Oh dear my typing! that should have been a LOAF of bread not LOAD!

]]> By: mary http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18261 mary Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:12:12 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18261 The EU is setting a target of 10%e ethanol in our petrol (gasoline) by 2020. This UK newspaper article reports the building of a refinery in Hull that will consume 1 million tonnes of wheat to produce ethanol, that is 7% of our total wheat crop of 15 million tonnes, which in any case is dependent on the vagaries of increasingly variable weather patterns causing drought and flooding. This use of wheat is bound to add to worldwide pressure on prices of grain, encourage speculation and hoarding against rising prices and eventually to shortages. The poor at the end of this vicious chain will suffer as the author Sharon Smith says in her excellent article. A load of supermarket bread which cost 50p ($1) last year is now 80p. Our unleaded petrol is now 105p per litre (that's just over $2) and there are difficulties already for many in meeting their bills for heating and food. I hope this link connects to the article. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/expert-view-with-the-eu-at-the-wheel-biofuel-plant-will-cost-us-dear-457253.html The EU is setting a target of 10%e ethanol in our petrol (gasoline) by 2020. This UK newspaper article reports the building of a refinery in Hull that will consume 1 million tonnes of wheat to produce ethanol, that is 7% of our total wheat crop of 15 million tonnes, which in any case is dependent on the vagaries of increasingly variable weather patterns causing drought and flooding. This use of wheat is bound to add to worldwide pressure on prices of grain, encourage speculation and hoarding against rising prices and eventually to shortages. The poor at the end of this vicious chain will suffer as the author Sharon Smith says in her excellent article. A load of supermarket bread which cost 50p ($1) last year is now 80p. Our unleaded petrol is now 105p per litre (that’s just over $2) and there are difficulties already for many in meeting their bills for heating and food. I hope this link connects to the article.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/expert-view-with-the-eu-at-the-wheel-biofuel-plant-will-cost-us-dear-457253.html

]]> By: hp http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18249 hp Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:50:52 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18249 The auto parts industry will notice a rise in profits. Ethanol is a parts man's dream come true. The auto parts industry will notice a rise in profits.
Ethanol is a parts man’s dream come true.

]]> By: chuck http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18246 chuck Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:26:31 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18246 I wouldn't mind corn being used to make ethanol---except it is being subsidized, both by American tax dollars and import taxes to keep sugar cane ethanol out of the country. Corn ethanol will never solve the energy problem and is only there because of oil companies and politicians from farming states! I wouldn’t mind corn being used to make ethanol—except it is being subsidized, both by American tax dollars and import taxes to keep sugar cane ethanol out of the country. Corn ethanol will never solve the energy problem and is only there because of oil companies and politicians from farming states!

]]> By: rosemarie jackowski http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18209 rosemarie jackowski Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:09:56 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18209 Could it be that diluting gas with ethanol is just one more scam designed to increase profits for Monsanto and other corporate farms? Amazing how all of this played out. Unbeknown st to most consumers, ethanol is now in all gas in my area. The only indication is a tiny, one square inch sticker on the local gas pumps. Hunger and starvation, especially in Haiti, in a disgrace for the U$A. The US destroyed many of the economies in this part of the world. NAFTA destroyed a large percentage of corn agriculture in Mexico. The lack of empathy is at a pathological level in the US. Could it be that diluting gas with ethanol is just one more scam designed to increase profits for Monsanto and other corporate farms? Amazing how all of this played out. Unbeknown st to most consumers, ethanol is now in all gas in my area. The only indication is a tiny, one square inch sticker on the local gas pumps.
Hunger and starvation, especially in Haiti, in a disgrace for the U$A. The US destroyed many of the economies in this part of the world. NAFTA destroyed a large percentage of corn agriculture in Mexico. The lack of empathy is at a pathological level in the US.

]]> By: Gavin http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18200 Gavin Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:04:22 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18200 Not our problem to feed the damn world. there were starving people before ethanol. I am sick of the united states making every poor damn country our problem. they dont want to change, leave them alone. Not our problem to feed the damn world. there were starving people before ethanol. I am sick of the united states making every poor damn country our problem. they dont want to change, leave them alone.

]]> By: Frank http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18193 Frank Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:41:05 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18193 You completely neglected to actually link US corn ethanol to the rice price rise. Unless farmers have taken to planting corn or soybeans in their rice paddies, which doesn't sound likely, the rice shortage is unlikely to be a result of the ethanol boondoggle. You completely neglected to actually link US corn ethanol to the rice price rise. Unless farmers have taken to planting corn or soybeans in their rice paddies, which doesn’t sound likely, the rice shortage is unlikely to be a result of the ethanol boondoggle.

]]> By: hp http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18182 hp Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:32:32 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18182 I chuckled. I chuckled.

]]> By: Michael Kenny http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18181 Michael Kenny Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:32:02 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18181 Underlying all of this is the fundamental problem of organising the economy in the poor countries in such a way as people can produce enough food to feed themselves. Thus, a switch to biofuels in the US should have no effect on food production in poor countries. Indeed, higher world prices should benefit farmers in those countries. Ms Smith has thus not demonstrated the link between US biofuel production and the rise in food prices, which seems to be more related to the rise in energy prices than anything going on in US agriculture. By the way, Vandana Shiva was wrong about Europe. The family farm is still the norm here and US-style "agribusiness" is virtually unknown. Underlying all of this is the fundamental problem of organising the economy in the poor countries in such a way as people can produce enough food to feed themselves. Thus, a switch to biofuels in the US should have no effect on food production in poor countries. Indeed, higher world prices should benefit farmers in those countries. Ms Smith has thus not demonstrated the link between US biofuel production and the rise in food prices, which seems to be more related to the rise in energy prices than anything going on in US agriculture.

By the way, Vandana Shiva was wrong about Europe. The family farm is still the norm here and US-style “agribusiness” is virtually unknown.

]]> By: evie http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18180 evie Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:06:03 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18180 Animal crackers in my soup Republican and democrats loop da loop Gosh oh gee but I have fun Swallowing pundits one by one ;) Animal crackers in my soup
Republican and democrats loop da loop
Gosh oh gee but I have fun
Swallowing pundits one by one ;)

]]> By: hp http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18168 hp Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:54:39 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/#comment-18168 Introducing new and improved Soylent Green! Now contains more girls! Introducing new and improved Soylent Green!
Now contains more girls!

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