Comments on: Video: Walk For Liberty Day 126 - Federal Government Corn Subsidies and Corn Ethanol Fuels

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:57:30 +0000

Congress is amazing. As a group, they have no expertise, but when it comes to making decisions, they sure think they do. The self appointed experts on everything chose to back bio fuels as the alternative fuel choices instead of letting market forces decided it. The only decisions congress should be making is what to have for lunch. You mentioned that there isn’t enough corn to meet our fossil fuel needs. I was watching a news program and the person said if all corn was used for ethanol it would only meet somewhere around 10% of our current fuel needs. I’m curious if they based that on a gallon basis or on the actual potential energy, because it could actually be a smaller number.

Also, as far as fuel subsidies, you’ll love this one. Congress in their ultimate wisdom decided to give 50 cents per gallon of ethanol mixed with gasoline and $1.00 per gallon of biodiesel mixed with diesel but left a giant loophole. Brazil is the largest manufacture of bio fuels and produces enough to export. They have been shipping 9 million gallon tankers of biodiesel to Europe. When the US started the fuel subsides for biodiesel, they started diverting the tankers to stop in Florida on the way to Europe. They would mix a gallon of diesel in their tanker and then collect a 9 million dollar check before continuing on to Europe where they then sell their biodiesel for below market rates. This has cost tax payers already in the hundreds of millions. The sad part of this is congress has known this has been happening for sometime but intentionally has not done anything to stop it. The good news is the EU is less intelligent than the US government. They filed complaints that their citizens have been getting lower fuel costs at the US tax payer expense and demanded we stop.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:39:47 +0000

Congrats on the distance you’ve covered. I’m that jogger you saw in washington state, out in the hills. It’s amazing how far the legs can carry you.

By: Nick S

Nick S — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:40:24 +0000

Great topic. Your video peaked my interest, and I’ve been reading about the “controversy” surrounding ethanol. In most of the articles I’ve read, the debate is focused on whether or not ethanol is a viable fuel source. Not one article I read points out the basic fact that if ethanol were viable, it would not need to be heavily subsidized. The ethanol industry was created by the Federal Gov’t in the 90’s with billions in subsidies. Some people might interject, “Oil, natural gas, and coal companies receive subsidies, too.” Well, those subsidies are also bad! Not until there is a free market in energy, will we see what is the most efficient and sustainable fuel for our needs.

By: Carol Ann Webb

Carol Ann Webb — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:12:18 +0000

There’s a big ethanol sign on the way to work - “growing Indiana’s future” is the theme….sounds like propaganda to me.

Not only does taking the corn out of the food chain cause higher prices, it also contributes to the fact that there is that much less food available while countless people (mostly children) starve to death each day.