Green Energy

Rarely has this blog been proven right so dramatically and so quickly.

Ethanol, of course, never was much of a "green energy".   In fact, study after study has shown that, when you consider everything, it neither reduces oil consumption nor reduces emissions of greenhouse gases (in fact INCREASING such emissions, especially when you take into account the destruction of rainforest, etc. to clear farm land). 

Yet, ethanol was the ONLY "alternative fuel" that really SEEMED to work, at a price not way out of line with oil (although it increased prices every summer as the gasoline industry had to "change over" to mandated fuel mixture changes).  Publications as liberal as The New York Times and Time Magazine have called ethanol a "scam".  But it was EMBRACED by leftist environmentalists as part of their "green" revolution.  Enter CENTRAL PLANNING, as Congress MANDATED that the ethanol content of fuel be raised.  As a matter of fact, those mandates are supposed to INCREASE by five times the ethanol level somehwere around 2020 (in graduated stages).  Congress has already passed that law.

Without seeming to understand the irony (not unusual for him), John McCain has now joined a group of lawmakers calling for RETHINKING those requirements.  WHY?  You know why.  What happened is what always happens in central planning, and distortion of the free market by a massive Federal Government:  UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES.

The price of food is going up.  That is what this blog has been telling you for MONTHS.  The price of BEER is going up.  The fact remains that oil is STILL the CHEAPEST of the fuels out there.  Other alternative fuels are even LESS competitive than ethanol   In fact, oil prices are now at a high enough level (probably a level that has to DROP at some point), that there is NO excuse for "alternative fuels" not to be able to compete in the free market (from solar to hydrogen to electric cars).  If they cannot compete at this level of oil prices, then they are pretty much useless (meaning we have to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to make them more efficient and cheaper)   Ohterwise, we wil have more "unintended consequences" like higher food prices and FOOD RIOTS.

Let me be clear here.  I have nothing against farmers making money.  Even though a lot of farming is now large agribusiness, I stillthink farmers "deserve" to make profits on their prodcuts.   But too often they have received enromous SUBSIDIES for doing things like NOT planting crops (to keep prices up).  One of the possible benefits of this rise in prices for farm products is to STOP the outrageous "farm subsidy" bills that keep going through Congress.   One reason for lack of optimism:  President Bush has proposed a FARM SUBSIDY foreign aid program.  Who could make this stuff up?

Now some of the present food shortages have little or nothing to do with biofuels (even though it is NOT true that biofuels affect just corn, as devoting more resources to corn--or any other food product--DIVERTS resources from production of other food).  Much of the problem has to do with the FAILURE of other countries to have a free market, and attempts at "central planning", even beyond biofuels, in those countries. 

Yes, despite all of this TRASING of America, and this doom and gloom, our "farmers" (whether small or large agribusiness) produce more, at a lower cost, than probably anyone else in the world.  Given a chance (that is, without central planning mandates on biofuels and without things like payments NOT to produce crops--or, worse, price control measures for FOOD), the free market will take care of our food requirements.  Although I have exaggerated somewhat about the CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY environmentalists have committed with their perverted push of "green energy", I don't think food is really a CRISIS in the United States (less enlightened parts of the world, because of their own FAILED systems, may be another story). 

Now we can certainly turn food into a "crisis", if we keep letting leftist environmentalists ruin our economy AND force us into central planning mandates that do things like distort the market in FOOD (as well as the market in energy).

That is the problem.  People like John McCain do not seem to recognize that this food "crisis" is an INDICTMENT of their policies, which are also leftist environmental policies, and that attempting to PATCH each problem as it appears is doomed to ultimate failure if the overall policies remain the same.  The problem is central planning DISTORTION of free markets (and "science"--see my entries discussing "global warming" and Lysenkoism, which ALSO resulted in mass starvation and death). 

If I thik too much about the sheer magnitude of how far our politicians (because we want them to?) have gone off the rails, trying to drive the train through a swamp without tracks, I get depressed.  From "global warming" to national health care, "central planning" and total disregard of reality seem to be the order of the day.  Yes, John McCain is right to want to do someting about ever increasing ethanol mandates, but he is one who also opposes drilling in Anwar, AND ridiculous "global warmng" legislation (with Joe Lieberman). 

It is a sad state of affairs where even people who recognize the insanity of what is going on, like me, have NO ONE to vote for.  Mayber there are a few Congressmen worth voting for, but not many.  The "central planning" idea that the Federal Government can solve all of our problems is on the rise (like the "forces of darkness" in the Lord of the Rings" trilogy), even though it has done nothing but fail in the past.   At present, I don't see many LEADERS for the forces of "light".