Corn shortage? The issue isn't a shortage - the issue is a dramatic inflation of food prices due to increased demand. On oil - so many of the United States' potential oil drilling locations are off-limits to Big Oil. Instead, we buy oil from the Saudis. We also invaded Iraq, and large-scale combat in an oil drilling country means less production. Also, oil is being traded speculatively as a commodity on some international markets. Why not drill here? To prevent caribou from dying or to prevent the Democrats from losing the opportunity to spout populist rhetoric about gas prices?
This is a very good article, (it's from Mises, so that's no surprise) about Food. Are We Running Out of Food? http://mises.org/story/2958 It dissects the consistently flawed populist economics of Paul Krugman, as per his NYT column. Also, Glen Beck defends Big Oil. Glen is become more of a Paulie everyday. Bless his soul. How profitable is big oil? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iNaALRGbZc
Whether the corn grown is being used for Human consumption or not doesn't matter, what matters is that 30% of the farm land in the United State is being used for fuel. Which is diverting resources from other crops. Rising the prices of all commodities, its not a coincidence that since 2007 corn is up 300% around the same time the Ethanol mandate came into all.
Amanamission: I enjoy your arguments. Public media, govt., etc. claim loudly that farming for ethanol is severly impacting farm prices. Besides claims that this is a Chevron conspiracy, and that the corn being used is not intended for human consumption, hence is not impacting prices...what other facts can you bring to bear. I tend to think that rising oil prices are impacting the world in a way which may be leading to increasing food prices and increasing global hunger. I suggest it is one of the causes, not the sole one. Rising oil prices over the past 5-7 years have essentially shifted 1% of the world's wealth from all countries to oil producing nations. For particularly poor nations and those dependant on oil this dramatically cuts available capital for food at the most severe levels. It is similar in concept to your arguments supporting wage increases for the lowest earners through increases in the minimum wage. Those folks put all their income back into necessities. An increase in the minimum wage goes right back into food, fuel, housing, etc. A decrease in minimum wage would decrease purchases of necessities. Likewise, the increase in critical oil prices has especially hit hardest at those nations that are poorest, IMV. Certainly, though, im my memory the recent increases in food prices have not the US for decades. In fact, I'm doing this solely from memory, I don't recall food prices spiking like this during the late 1970's early 1980's when the US was experiencing inflation in excess of 10%.
That's why Treehugger.com & other's want my domain SaveEcology.com........it's in the Mankind own interest to SaveEcology
Put two and two together ... The USDA says it expects food prices to rise at abnormal rates for at least the next few years. In the United States this year, nearly a third of the corn output will be used to make an estimated 9.3 billion gallons of ethanol. http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/03/07/the-growing-food-cost-crisis.html
How the World's Richest Governments Starve the World's Poorest People http://mises.org/story/2969 Excerpt Fantastic article.
The World is facing an Ice Age Enjoy the warming while you can http://www.fortliberty.org/blog/australian-scientist-warns-about-coming-ice-age.html
the warmer the world, the shorter the life span. the warmer the world, hungrier we go.. Penguins are dying on the ice and crops are dying in Africa. it will be very wise to do something now before it is too late.
Global warming is actually increasing grain production. The real danger is that many of the worlds great rivers in India, China and Southeast Asia as glacier fed. Rivers like the ganges and Mekong could dry up.
You are correct. The increase of temperature has boosted corn yields by an estimated 15%. Corn is being diverted from food into the Ethanol biofuel production process. With the rising coast of crude oil and the diversion of corn to biofuel the rush to make ethanol is driving third world countries into a famine like crisis.
The world has increased by 1 million poeple since 1998. The United Nations estimates that the world's population is growing at the rate of 75 million people per year.