Dixon

Sustainable Energy Indices Mixed as Commodities Retreat (Week Ending 7/18)

The only way corn-based ethanol survives is with government subsidies which is a sop to the corn growers lobby, ADM, corn state senators and the rest. Our entire food economy is corn-based and if you think food prices are high now...you "ain't seen nothin yet".

Same thing with bio-diesel, using edible oils and animal fats. Our taxes pay the U.S. bio-diesel producers a $1/gallon subsidy so they can acutally afford to make & sell the stuff - - which they then promptly ship 40% of it to Europe! So much for U.S. energy independence!!

The bill passed by those wise and thoughtful "leaders" in Washington also pays a "splash and dash" subsidy to the bio-diesel makers. They "import" bio-diesel made in Malaysia with palm oil, off load it in the US, drip in a little regular crude oil diesel and then "ship" the blended product to Europe....and get paid a taxpayer subsidy! They don't produce anything of value - - just slurp at our taxpayer funded government trough.

Milton Friedman was spot on: "Subsidize anything and you will get more of it". In this case more silly corn-based ethanol (corn is a very poor ingredient to use to make ethanol), biodiesel for Europeans, and much higher food prices.

Madness!