Let's talk about Corn

Well just go ahead and call me the next Sean Hannity because I am about to write another opinion piece in which I favor John McCain over Barack Obama. This John Fidler editorial is about ethanol.

Ethanol has been around for literally thousands of years as the primary ingredient in all alcoholic beverages. Archaeologists have found the dried residue of ethanol in Chinese pottery that is over 9,000 years old. However, I am not writing today about the grain ethanol you use to get your buzz on while badly dancing at Room 22. The ethanol I am talking about is the kind you can put in your car. Since the beginning of the automobile, there has been talk of putting ethanol as the primary fuel source instead of petroleum. In fact, Henry Ford when he invented the Model T, originally planned for the car to run 100% on anhydrous (a form of ethanol). Ford said that ethanol is the "fuel of the future". Now, let's talk about corn.

One way to obtain ethanol is through corn. However, one gallon of petroleum is needed to make two gallons of ethanol. Don't get me wrong. This was a huge scientific breakthrough. We could literally cut down our use of petroleum by 50%. But is there a way we could do even better?

Thank you for asking! As a matter of fact we can do better. There is more then one way to get ethanol. Various types of wheat and grasses called switchgrass could do the trick. But a really good way is through sugar cane. You can convert eight gallons of ethanol made from sugar cane only using one gallon of petroleum. Wow! That is an amazing improvement over corn. Unfortunately, this is where politics come in and this is where I disagree with Barack Obama.

Some of the biggest lobby groups are the groups that represent the American farmer. In response, most politicians are very afraid of farmers. Obama represents the state of Illinois. Most of Illinois is farm land, primarily corn fields. There is no doubt that one way that Obama got elected to congress was to sucking up to the farmers and basically giving in to their every want and demand. Unfortunately, this is not good for the rest of us non-farmers. Here is what Obama and other suck up congressmen and women have done. Despite it being good for the environment to import Sugar Cane. The senate and the house of representatives placed a 54 cent a gallon tax on importing any ethanol from foreign countries. Think about that. 54 cents a gallon!!! Even though it is good for the environment, Obama and other politicians are so afraid of what the American farm vote will do. Think about what this has done for the farmers. Two years ago, a bushel of corn cost $1.96. I just looked and it now costs about $4.00 a bushel for corn. There have been a lot of rich farmers out there who have made a lot of money on ethanol. This has also hurt the normal American in other ways. Obviously restaurants and consumers have to pay more for corn or corn based products. Corn production has doubled in two years from 1.2 billion bushels in 2006 to 2.6 billion already in 2008. This has also increased the cost of chicken because chickens eat a corn based diet. The cost of corn syrup has sky-rocketed. Think of how many things have corn syrup in them.

This really upsets me. To give Obama a break, Obama probably has to say these things to secure the farm vote in Illinois while running for election and he can't flip flop now. Plus, John McCain is a senator from Arizona. There aren't a lot of corn farmers in Tucson. There are many ways to reduce the cost of gasoline at the pump and one way to do them is listen to John McCain and other politicians from both side of the political aisle and eliminate the tax on importing Ethanol. Obama has been criticized on this issue and said well this still won't make us energy independent as now we will have to rely more on Brazil for our energy needs. Wouldn't you rather rely more on Brazil and less on Saudi Arabia???