Ah, the politics of American sugar. I once read that Caribbean cane growers protected their power by lobbying the English parliament to prevent America's colonists from achieving political representation. Nice. Flash forward two hundred fifty years or so and The New York Times reports that a "little-noticed provision in the new farm bill would oblige the Agriculture Department to buy surplus domestic sugar caused by the expected influx of Mexican sugar next year. Then the government would sell it, most likely at a steep discount, to ethanol producers to add to their fermentation tanks." Note the word "surplus." in other words, the feds would be legally obliged to buy U.S. sugar at a price determined by the U.S. sugar industry, to provide the somewhat-less-than impoverished, already heavily subsidized industry an "insurance policy" against the impact of cheap NAFTA-enabled imports. It gets worse. The ethanol industry doesn't event want the sugar; they'd have to invest in new machinery to use it. “In today’s grain-based biorefineries, the amount of sugar you could introduce into the process would be fairly small,” said Matt Hartwig, spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association. Our tax money hard at work.
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From the article:
“Sugar producers say the cost would be relatively low and the plan would help keep prices at a level they consider fair.”
Hah! I guess throwing another few hundred million on the $8+ billion we already spend on pork barrel subsidies could be considered “relatively” cheap. At least the money the government is taking from me by force is going to promote fairness!
If you are begging, you should at least be ashamed of it.
The reason American ethanol manufacturers don’t want sugar is because they’re working for the corn boys, who know that if people figured out that they’re using ethanol as a way to get rich quick (even though corn is nearly worthless for making ethanol) that their subsidies would start dissapearing. Sugar is one of the best ways to produce ethanol (MANY times more efficient than corn), and if the government and society were serious about this fuel then they would already be making it from sugar.
Finally it starts happening – American sugar farmers start cashing in and elbowing into the ‘ethanol’ subsidy game in the US. Whoever wins, we lose.
I’ve avoided E10 pumps for years because my cars have always run like crap on the stuff. Until cars run on hydrogen, pure electricity, or magic ju-ju beans, just gimme some dead dino juice.
White gold! Texas tea..sweetener.
In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the weemon.
FreeMan:
What is the infrastructure logistics plan for magic ju-ju beans?
guyincognito:
Have you been watching Cane? haha
Just another reason to vote for Ron Paul.
Wait until the clowns in Washington take complete control of your health care.
Where is Ronald Reagan when you need it? He was much more practical about trade than the blind freetraders of today.