Switch From Food To Fuel Crops Causing Global Food Price Crisis

The Whistler  •  April 5, 2008

According to officials at the World Bank, the price of staple crops has risen 80% in three years thanks to farmers being fuel producers instead of food producers.
What’s troubling is that it’s, by and large, the government that is driving this problem. Nations around the world are subsidizing biofuel production and mandating biofuel use, thus artificially increasing the demand (and thus the profitability) of fuel crops. This was certainly an unintended consequences, but it illustrates exactly why government shouldn’t try to control markets.
Regulate markets, sure. But not control them.

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  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    Whistler, you should have left it there. It was funny.

    At the next SAB staff meeting I’m going to start a Pood Pight.

    But what do you think of a guy like Rob that goes to the secret bloggers retreat and leaves me to “handle things?” I haven’t heard from Pilgrim or Bat1 today either so I can only assume that they got invited too.

  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    Rob had me fix the typo in the title.

  • Pilgrim

    atease:

    By the way, I enjoy Calvin and Hobbes very much and have most of the collections – the sharpest comic humor aside from Bloom County out there.

    Good avatars.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

    Thank you big government liberals for helping the “little guy” by making the cost of food expensive.

    What’s next? A tax raise?

    You guys are like a tornado in a trailer park.

  • laydownSally

    You can’t pool us. The FPI has been watching you.(So has the Pood and Drug guys.)

  • atease

    Whistler, you should have left it there. It was funny.

    atease

  • Neiman

    FlyOnTheWall: To quote my mentor and the top philosopher in the world today, Larry the cable Guy, I don’t care who you are that there is funny!

  • http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

    Rob had me fix the typo in the title.

    Says the spokesman for the Pood Coverup Conspiracy!

  • Pilgrim

    Says the spokesman for the Pood Coverup Conspiracy!

    ANOTHER conspiracy that I wasn’t invited to?

    Nobody ever conspires with me. I’m depressed.

  • atease

    Pood will not die..

    Will anyone go through the dog/cat pood isle in the supermarket..?

    What about frozen pood? How do you reheat it..?

    Prepackaged Pood better than what we have today..?

    Hunting pood just does not sound right..

    atease

  • atease

    Yea, ignore the man behind the curtain. Lose lips sink ships and all that jazz.

    atease

  • FlyOnTheWall

    A “pood” is a unit of mass equal to 40 funt. Surprised that a group of, otherwise intelligent, people didn’t know.

    The fluctuations in price are troubling, while I used to buy a pood I now only pick up 8 funt but this should finish playing out soon. Planned gasahol plants are being shelved because cost of corn skyrocketed and total cost was nowhere near promised levels.

    Having a job, I just tough it out but places and people that are poor are out of luck. This makes for tough times, 8 even 20 funt often won’t cut it.

  • laydownSally

    Surprised that a group of, otherwise intelligent, people didn’t know.

    Fly,

    I think the proper descriptor is “ignorant”. I’m reluctant to inform you, though if you ever read any of my comments you would be assured, that ignorance is a predominant characteristic of my posts.

    I’m as blithely aware of this mortal (and mental) condition as much as I am despondent over the lack of evidence that might infer “otherwise intelligent”.

  • atease

    Thanks Pilgrim. There is/was no better comic strip than Calvin. I have more that have yet to make the rotation. This site has all the strips in their order. Enjoy..

    http://www.marcellosendos.ch/comics/ch/index.html

    atease

  • FlyOnTheWall

    Rob had me fix the typo in the title.

    I’m being repressed!

    Our oppressed brothers in the PLA (Pood Liberation Army)demand freedom! I warn you, your censorship is phraught with peril! Don’t make me capitalize!

    this whole thread has been real pood for phaught.

    Indeed!

  • http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

    Maybe we can make “pood” the new Cimpy McHitlerburton?

  • atease

    Cool, POOD for dinner

    atease

  • Bat One

    This was certainly an unintended consequence, but it illustrates exactly why government shouldn’t try to control markets.

    It also illustrates how those responsible for the policies mandating biofuel production at less than market cost are as unfamiliar with the concept of measuring consequences through cost/benefit analysis as they are with the basic workings of a market-based economy.

    We are all paying substantially more for the food we eat so that a small cadre of smug liberals who know nothing about economics can pat themselves on the back at night for being pointlessly “green” at the expense of all the rest of us.

  • Neiman

    What exactly is a “pood” crisis?

  • pparets

    Hmmmm…. this whole thread has been real pood for phaught.

  • robert108

    Since oil is located under the ground(and under the ocean), it doesn’t compete with anything else for resources to produce it. Besides that, it’s the only fuel source that has real market demand, and that is economically feasible to produce. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    Um, nobody’s supposed to know about any secret bloggers retreat. There really IS NO such thing, really.

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