I'm just sayin' -
I saw a T-shirt today that had a bike on one side, and a tank on the other side, with a caption: choose your weapon. Ah yes, bicycling and politics, my two favorite topics. But as much as I love being out on the bike, with the days still cold and the wind still stinging, it's nice to have that extra motivation to get out there. Here's mine:
food aid.
I mean, have you seen this shit? People are out there rioting over food. Food! Not like, "that asshole is too conservative on the tax code for billion dollar business" but "I'm fucking hungry bitches and there's nothing I can buy because the first world is making gas out of corn!"
From the NY Times, "Soaring food prices, driven in part by demand for grain ethanol, have helped slash the amount of food aid the government buys to its lowest level in a decade, possibly resulting in more hungry people around the world this year."
Rather than requiring an increase in the mileage of SUVs and car fleets produced in the U.S. (anathema! - government intervention into the free market!), the government is intervening in the free market by subsidizing corn production, and corn-based ethanol manufacturing plants, which are popping up like pimples all over the corn belt. That's great, right? We're weaning ourselves off foreign oil, right? We're going to stop buoying the terrorist-sympathizing america-hating countries with our dollars, right? It's a triumph of industry, right?
Not so fast. I'm the son of a farmer. Its great that corn prices have gone from under $2/bushel in 2004 to $3.62/bushel (today). It's not going to make anyone rich, but it helps move toward the black. Or does it? Last time I checked, there were a lot of things made with corn - how will increasing prices affect us at the market? Here's a short list of things that may increase in price:
Adhesives (glues, pastes, mucilages, gums, etc.)
Aluminum
Antibiotics (penicillin)
Asbestos insulation
Aspirin
Automobiles (everything on wheels)
xxx- cylinder heads
xxx- ethanol - fuel & windshield washer fluid
xxx- spark plugs
xxx- synthetic rubber finishes
xxx- tires
Baby food
Batteries, dry cell
Beer
Breakfast cereals
Candies
Canned vegetables
Carbonated beverages
Cheese spreads
Chewing gum
Chocolate products
Coatings on wood, paper & metal
Colour carrier in paper & textile, printing
Corn chips
Corn meal
Cosmetics
C.M.A. (calcium magnesium acetate)
Crayon and chalk
Degradable plastics
Dessert powders
Dextrose (intravenous solutions, icing sugar)
Disposable diapers
Dyes
Edible oil
Ethyl and butyl alcohol
Explosives - firecrackers
Finished leather
Flour & grits
Frozen foods
Fructose
Fuel ethanol
Gypsum wallboard
Ink for stamping prices in stores
Insecticides
Instant coffee & tea
Insulation, fibreglass
James, jellies and preserves
Ketchup
Latex paint
Leather tanning
Licorice
Livestock feed
Malted products
Margarine
Mayonnaise
Mustard, prepared
Paper board, (corrugating, laminating, cardboard)
Paper manufacturing
Paper plates & Cups
Peanut butter
Pharmaceuticals - The Life Line of The Hospital
Potato chips
Rugs, carpets
Salad dressings
Shaving cream & lotions
Shoe polish
Soaps and cleaners
Soft drinks
Starch & glucose (over 40 types)
Syrup
Tacos, tortillas
Textiles
Toothpaste
Wallpaper
Wheat bread
Whiskey
Yogurts
And that's just the short list, fuckers.
Hmmm . . . now that you mention it, maybe "weaning ourselves off foreign oil" by using a major source material as fuel isn't the best idea.
So what's the solution? In this case, it's actually somewhat simple: increasing fuel efficiency. If we raise mileage standards to 35 miles per gallon 2018 (which the National Academy of Sciences has said can be achieved in a cost-effective manner without loss in performance or safety), by 2025, the country would be saving 2.3 million barrels a day _ roughly equal to current imports from the Persian Gulf.
What's an even simpler solution?
Check my pics. It's a sweet ride, isn't it?
I saw a T-shirt today that had a bike on one side, and a tank on the other side, with a caption: choose your weapon. Ah yes, bicycling and politics, my two favorite topics. But as much as I love being out on the bike, with the days still cold and the wind still stinging, it's nice to have that extra motivation to get out there. Here's mine:
food aid.
I mean, have you seen this shit? People are out there rioting over food. Food! Not like, "that asshole is too conservative on the tax code for billion dollar business" but "I'm fucking hungry bitches and there's nothing I can buy because the first world is making gas out of corn!"
From the NY Times, "Soaring food prices, driven in part by demand for grain ethanol, have helped slash the amount of food aid the government buys to its lowest level in a decade, possibly resulting in more hungry people around the world this year."
Rather than requiring an increase in the mileage of SUVs and car fleets produced in the U.S. (anathema! - government intervention into the free market!), the government is intervening in the free market by subsidizing corn production, and corn-based ethanol manufacturing plants, which are popping up like pimples all over the corn belt. That's great, right? We're weaning ourselves off foreign oil, right? We're going to stop buoying the terrorist-sympathizing america-hating countries with our dollars, right? It's a triumph of industry, right?
Not so fast. I'm the son of a farmer. Its great that corn prices have gone from under $2/bushel in 2004 to $3.62/bushel (today). It's not going to make anyone rich, but it helps move toward the black. Or does it? Last time I checked, there were a lot of things made with corn - how will increasing prices affect us at the market? Here's a short list of things that may increase in price:
Adhesives (glues, pastes, mucilages, gums, etc.)
Aluminum
Antibiotics (penicillin)
Asbestos insulation
Aspirin
Automobiles (everything on wheels)
xxx- cylinder heads
xxx- ethanol - fuel & windshield washer fluid
xxx- spark plugs
xxx- synthetic rubber finishes
xxx- tires
Baby food
Batteries, dry cell
Beer
Breakfast cereals
Candies
Canned vegetables
Carbonated beverages
Cheese spreads
Chewing gum
Chocolate products
Coatings on wood, paper & metal
Colour carrier in paper & textile, printing
Corn chips
Corn meal
Cosmetics
C.M.A. (calcium magnesium acetate)
Crayon and chalk
Degradable plastics
Dessert powders
Dextrose (intravenous solutions, icing sugar)
Disposable diapers
Dyes
Edible oil
Ethyl and butyl alcohol
Explosives - firecrackers
Finished leather
Flour & grits
Frozen foods
Fructose
Fuel ethanol
Gypsum wallboard
Ink for stamping prices in stores
Insecticides
Instant coffee & tea
Insulation, fibreglass
James, jellies and preserves
Ketchup
Latex paint
Leather tanning
Licorice
Livestock feed
Malted products
Margarine
Mayonnaise
Mustard, prepared
Paper board, (corrugating, laminating, cardboard)
Paper manufacturing
Paper plates & Cups
Peanut butter
Pharmaceuticals - The Life Line of The Hospital
Potato chips
Rugs, carpets
Salad dressings
Shaving cream & lotions
Shoe polish
Soaps and cleaners
Soft drinks
Starch & glucose (over 40 types)
Syrup
Tacos, tortillas
Textiles
Toothpaste
Wallpaper
Wheat bread
Whiskey
Yogurts
And that's just the short list, fuckers.
Hmmm . . . now that you mention it, maybe "weaning ourselves off foreign oil" by using a major source material as fuel isn't the best idea.
So what's the solution? In this case, it's actually somewhat simple: increasing fuel efficiency. If we raise mileage standards to 35 miles per gallon 2018 (which the National Academy of Sciences has said can be achieved in a cost-effective manner without loss in performance or safety), by 2025, the country would be saving 2.3 million barrels a day _ roughly equal to current imports from the Persian Gulf.
What's an even simpler solution?
Check my pics. It's a sweet ride, isn't it?