The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 602
So why isn’t there enough wheat for them? Partially because Russian and Chinese wheat harvests have been miserable and so the wheat that would have
been plentiful is hard to come by. Consequently, there are those who feel that
we in America have to make up for the farming losses suffered by the two giant
communist countries, Okay, I know, I read the memo, Russia is Russia now,
not the Soviet Union. Sorry, but their government and economic system still
suck and they still can’t get the farming thing down properly. China; regardless
of how great their Olympics presentation was, is still communist China.
Then we have another problem. Let’s say we get the corn to the starving African
countries. Then what? The local warlords prevent the supplies from getting to
the people until and unless they get paid by the starving people…you know, the
same starving people who have no jobs and no money.
Then we have another problem, assuming that the Africans decided that they
wanted to make popcorn or corn-on-the-cob part of their staple diet, and assuming that the warlords suddenly were stricken by guilt for how they treat their
fellow countrymen, who pays for the corn grown by American farmers? We
would have to in the form of subsidizing the farmers to grow the corn, and we
give it away as part of foreign aid.
Did I say “subsidizing?” Is this another instance where the oil industry is okay
with subsidies as long as the subsidies don’t go into producing a fuel that’s
competitive with gasoline and diesel? I guess it is.
So here’s an idea, since the oil industry didn’t take advantage of the chance to
be heroes by bailing out the auto industry, how about they use all of their profits
to buy up all the corn before the greedy ethanol distillers can get it, and then
send the corn to the starving people? Wow, another great PR idea.
And get this…the empty tankers that carried Arabian and Nigerian oil to America can be used on the return trip to carry the corn to the starving countries!
WOW, and double WOW!
Let me get back to reality. What I just wrote won’t work because the corn that’s
grown is not grown for human consumption; it’s grown as feedstock for animals.
More than 90% of all the corn grown in America is not fit for human consumption. Can it be grown for human consumption? Sure, but then what about the
animals? Farmers and ranchers need to feed the animals to make them grow
so that the animals can get big and fat and provide us with meat. Did we suddenly give up eating meat?
