Bio-fuel's first victim: the poor

Mexican President Felipe Calderon unveiled measures to stem a surge in prices for corn tortillas, the mainstay of the country’s diet, as eroding support among the poor threatens to undermine his 48-day-old presidency.

While global demand for feed corn for ethanol fuel production has pushed prices to a 10-year high…

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070119.RTORTILLA19/TPStory/Business

I hate it when the worst case scenario becomes a reality, but here it is. Now we can support international terrorism by driving our SUVs, or burn a poor Mexican.

The part I love about this is that Brazil has a surplus of sugar cane based ethanol. However, the USA applies a tax on any sugar cane based ethanol (of $0.54) while providing a subsidy of $0.50 on corn.

Basically, the US gov’t is saying it has to step up and focus on new forms of fuels, but it doesn’t want them unless they are US grown.

Wish I had an article to refer on this one…heard it on the radio the other day.

sigh.

Confucious said that goody-goodies are the thieves of virtue. The bio-fuel gang just want to save the planet…the US only wants to support its farmers…the side effects of both desires are unfortunate.