A Hungry World Population? Oh Well, Let Them Eat Ethanol! | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary

A Hungry World Population? Oh Well, Let Them Eat Ethanol! | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The amount [of ethanol] to be produced is a mandate, not a choice. It’s 13.2 billion gallons this year. Last year we burnt up 40% of our crop. This year, given the expected yield reductions, we could easily destroy over half of our corn."

"Now, the Saudi Arabia of corn burns up half of its supply, instead of selling it to a hungry world. All of this was brought to you by our greener friends and, yes, Republicans, working the political process hand in hand. Later, the environmental community realized—as some of us had been telling them for years—that corn ethanol results in an increase in carbon dioxide emissions, not a decrease.

Of course, there is little chance that the disproportionately influential farm lobby is going to swallow changing the ethanol mandate when its constituents are making money hand-over-fist because of an artificially induced shortage."