"Acerbic" I'll have to admit that was one word I had to look up. So I learned a new one today! However, CRKrieger: You don't strike me as sour or bitter tasting....
LOL! That's my middle name! And, my wife often reminds me of it... I really have to edit and re-edit my posts before actually hitting the "do it" button so I don't sound like a bigger jerk than some already think I am now... Have a great day!!!
Ninja edits for me! Hasn't it occurred to you that I don't much care how big a jerk people think I am? OTOH, when they meet me in person, they are invariably surprised that I'm not a big jerk. I only play one on tha interwebz.
For those that prefer ethanol free gas: http://www.pure-gas.org/ Our local newspaper published an article on the dwindling ethanol-free stations in our area, and included my local ethanol-free station. The place was PACKED the next day. I did get a 2-3 MPG decrease in my 318ti when I started using the "10%" blend a few years ago. I'm back to 34.5mpg with the ethanol free gas (I also located a few stations in the Elkhart Lake, WI area so I'm ready for O-Fest !)
Interesting observation (regarding WA state): Cenex and CFN are commercial fuelers (originally) mostly used by farmers (Cenex stations are usually located at a Grange Supply). Farmers push ethanol but don't use it. Hmmmm.
ethanol lobby is starving the world http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/16/food-spike-puts-44-million-in-poverty/ CNN The rise in food prices since last June has shoved 44 million people into dire poverty, the World Bank says in its latest report on the global food crisis. The antipoverty organization says in February's Food Price Watch that its price index rose 15% between last October and last month, leaving it just 3% shy of its 2008 peak. The biggest gains have come in wheat, corn, sugar, fats and oils. One rare bright spot: the relative stability in global rice prices. Maybe not such a coincidence But good news is in short supply in the report, which estimates rising prices have shoved 68 million people largely in food-importing nations below the World Bank's poverty line of just $1.25 a day in income. High prices have also pushed 24 million in food producing countries above the poverty line. While loose monetary policies in the United States and elsewhere have surely played a role in the food price runup, by revving up the global economy and stoking demand for scarce goods, the World Bank report focuses more on bread-and-butter supply-and-demand issues -- including the absurdly wasteful U.S. policy of feeding more than a third of its corn crop to yeast to make a federally subsidized, less-efficient additive to gasoline. The report points to wicked weather in Australia and China to explain the jump in wheat prices, while blaming a poor crop in Brazil for the 73% jump in sugar since June. But if bad weather explains some of the recent jolts, the World Bank report notes that much of the pain is manmade. Export restrictions in Russia following last summer's fires helped push up prices by curtailing supply, for instance. And the report notes another instance of human folly: the insistence of the United States government on subsidizing the use of corn for motor fuel, a policy the World Bank report suggests has far-reaching effects. Corn prices, it says, "are affected by complex linkages with other markets" that end up lifting prices everywhere. Ethanol production demand for corn increases as oil prices go up, with sugar-based ethanol less competitive at current sugar prices. Recent United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates show the share of ethanol for fuel rising from 31% of U.S. corn output in 2008/9 to a projected 40% in 2010/11. Increased demand for high fructose corn syrup from countries such as Mexico, as they substitute away from higher priced sugar, also contributes to higher demand for corn. That is to say, trying to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by substituting ethanol is not only failing to break our addiction to petroleum - it is making an already challenging food outlook much more stressful. The World Bank urges governments to publish more data on food stocks and not to impose export restrictions, while scaling up nutritional assistance in poor countries. It also urges a rethink of the ethanol juggernaut -- though let's face it, Congress is going to put partisanship aside and get us a workable tax system before that ever happens.
Corn is a hog feed. We should use it that way. However, I'm sure that Monsanto, ADM and Cargill have a different opinion and can afford better politicians than I.
Maybe not but you can let your congressman and senators know you want them to shut down that damn Ethanol program. With all the budget cuts on the table this program is a no-brainer! Let's zero it out before we start denying senior citizens health care.
House votes to block EPA E15 mandate: http://detnews.com/article/20110219/AUTO01/102190386/1148/rss25
It's a start.... With all this talk about budget cutting in Washington, it seems to me that the ethanol subsidy should be the first thing to go. It benefits nobody except the farmers growing corn. Before we go cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, lets zero out the ethanol program and all the other giveaways to agribusiness. The average family farm is worth millions! Why should the elderly and the destitute have to support "millionaire farmers?"
I would be careful with the word "average". I agree there are many subsidies for farming that shouldn't be there, but the subsidies mostly support big corp farmers, not the small time farmer. Some farmers are worth millions, but usually they are cash poor, because their land is worth a lot, not their income. This is mostly because of sprawl from cities that eat up once open land. So all of a sudden the land is worth a lot, but until they sell the land, they are far from millionaires.
So you are saying that someone who owns assets worth several $million is not a millionaire??? That's news to me. As for cash flow, there is nothing stopping a farmer from borrowing against his land. My girl friend owns a million dollar house. She has a 15 year mortgage with high payments so that she can quickly build up her equity. As a result she is cash-poor and is always crying "poor." But her net worth exceeds one million dollars. It gets a bit old. Is she a millionaire? Do you see the analogy with farmers?
