Smart Moves by Congress

[BlueBee]

We probably won’t find many cases where Smart and Congress go together, but I thought I would start a tread to that effect!  I think they actually agreed to something smart here:

Congress has FINALLY ended the 6 billion a year subsidy to the Corn Ethanol Makers!  That’s 45 cents a gallon extra you and I pay for low BTU ethanol.  This has always seemed like an insane idea to me; turning food into fuel.  A process some numbers say consumes more energy than it produces.  Glad to see it has finally ended.  Hate to see my Michigan Democratic Senators actually supported this dumb subsidy.  Congress also finally ended the tariffs on Brazilian sugar cane ethanol.  http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20111224/AUTO01/112240320

Anybody know of anything else Smart the Congress has done lately?

[Michael Bush]

You give them too much credit.  They did NOT do something smart, they STOPPED doing something stupid... not the same thing... but at least a step in the right direction...

[iddee]

""Anybody know of anything else Smart the Congress has done lately?""

Every year.... ADJOURN!!

[kathyp]

you beat me to it!

Rick Perry stole my idea of time limits for congress.  i always thought that was a much better idea than term limits.

ok, smart things....maybe making the president SOGOTP on the oil line?

[SEEYA]

But, as always, each silver lining has a dark cloud.
The American Farmer has made record profits because of the ethanol subsidy. They have expanded their businesses and have purchased machinery and property (on credit). I fear a return to the "farm aid" days!

Ain't it amazing though- Congress in its wisdom, didn't touch the oil and gas industry's subsides!

[BlueBee]

There’s an extra 2 billion mouths to feed since the days of Farm Aid and John Mellencamp.  Supply vs Demand is now in the favor of the farmer.  The farmers are going to be the oil men and bankers of tomorrow.  We can survive without oil, but we can’t survive without food or water.  The farmers around me seem to be prospering. 

Ray, just wait until Michigan can sell the rest of the country our water at $150 a barrel!

[Intheswamp]

Governments and kingdoms have controlled whole populations of people groups by controlling food and water supplies.  Many examples in history of this.  The countries that we import food from very well know the pulse of our food production and reserves.  The food supply and production of this country should have a much higher priority in regards to national security than what I believe it does.  During the Great Depression people managed...scratching up a little garden, killing a rabbit here...a robin there...steeling a chicken...a day's labor for a meal.  Problem is, they're ain't enough rabbits and robins to go around now.  A major kink in the supply line and suddenly we have very major problems in the country...and our friends in China, Vietnam, Russia, south America, etc., will be only too glad to "help us". 

Think of how food and supplies disappear upon the warning of a big snowstorm or hurricane approaching...shelves are emptied.  A couple of days after the "event" the shelves are replenished and life goes on.  What happens if there is nothing in the pipeline to replenish the shelves with?

I can't help but give the farmers a "pass" on making profits on FOOD products...at least they're feeding the country.  On the other hand, I just can't find a soft spot in my heart for the oil barons and speculators of all kinds.

Ed

[Michael Bush]

>Think of how food and supplies disappear upon the warning of a big snowstorm or hurricane approaching...shelves are emptied.  A couple of days after the "event" the shelves are replenished and life goes on.  What happens if there is nothing in the pipeline to replenish the shelves with?

We now have systems where they keep even lower inventories by keeping more careful track with a computer.  They only have enough food for a day or so in the grocery store and it is replenished daily with what they need that day.  If the supply were cut off they would be out in less than a day once the panic set in, it would only be a matter of hours.

[kathyp]

On the other hand, I just can't find a soft spot in my heart for the oil barons and speculators of all kinds.

you might have a change of heart if the oil suddenly stops.    many of those companies are not the big oil companies.  a huge amount of extraction and exploration in this country is done by small companies.  http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2011-04-07-oil-drilling-rules-affect-wildcatters.htm
while i don't favor subsidies for anything, better for oil and food, which we need, than little green cars that don't work.

and there is something truly wrong with a system that loans money to foreign oil companies for extraction/exploration while at the same time restricting our own business.  there is something truly wrong with a country that would rather import coal, the dig our own!

[SEEYA]

 just wait until Michigan can sell the rest of the country our water at $150 a barrel!
     

Interstate commerce. They would just take it from us! We can't even get an ILLEGAL canal closed down.

We get that pipeline from Canada to New Orleans built, should anything happen to it. Millions of barrels of goop floating down the Missouri / Mississippi River(s). We might get $300 a barrel! Nah, never happen! That pipeline that polluted the Kalamazoo River was just a fluke.

[kathyp]

yup.  better if we do nothing and keep importing from the middle east. 

[luvin honey]

There’s an extra 2 billion mouths to feed since the days of Farm Aid and John Mellencamp.  Supply vs Demand is now in the favor of the farmer.  The farmers are going to be the oil men and bankers of tomorrow.  We can survive without oil, but we can’t survive without food or water.  The farmers around me seem to be prospering. 

Ray, just wait until Michigan can sell the rest of the country our water at $150 a barrel!

Well, then perhaps DH and I will achieve our non-dreams of great wealth!

I don't see this happening. Even though we've had a great 2 years, farming cycles pretty wildly and Americans are not willing to pay much for their food. And we can buy our food from other nations. Even our food has gone global.

I'm happy to not be subsidizing ethanol any longer. It was a great idea but never got to the point of efficiency. Plus the problem with most of our food and even packaging based on corn, it had too much crucial competition.

[BlueBee]

Lovin honey, I wonder what color of Lamborghini you’ll be getting?   

Jim Rogers says “Farmers are going to have the Lamborghinis in the future, not the brokers on wall street”



http://jimrogersnews.com/251/jim-rogers-farmers-will-drive-lamborghinis-pt-12-mar-09-09/

(Jim Rogers is a famous commodity trader; talks about farming at 6mins into the video)

[SEEYA]

They are cheaper than tractors 

[Larry Bees]

We probably won’t find many cases where Smart and Congress go together, but I thought I would start a tread to that effect!  I think they actually agreed to something smart here:

Congress has FINALLY ended the 6 billion a year subsidy to the Corn Ethanol Makers!  That’s 45 cents a gallon extra you and I pay for low BTU ethanol.  This has always seemed like an insane idea to me; turning food into fuel.  A process some numbers say consumes more energy than it produces.  Glad to see it has finally ended.  Hate to see my Michigan Democratic Senators actually supported this dumb subsidy.  Congress also finally ended the tariffs on Brazilian sugar cane ethanol.  http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20111224/AUTO01/112240320

Anybody know of anything else Smart the Congress has done lately?

We thought that this was a smart move by Congress, but I just heard on the news that because they didn't renew the subsidy, that the price of gasoline here in Florida went up overnight 5 cents per gallon to make up for it. I haven't been out today to see if this is true, but I assume that it is.

Larry

[BlueBee]

Larry, we can probably thank the Iranians for that extra 5 cents/gallon.   Sometimes you have to wonder if the OPEC dictators purposely rattle the sabers just to bump up the price of oil so THEY get even more dollars!  Their own version of pumping and dumping.

How much does it REALLY cost them to pump the stuff from the ground? $5?

[kathyp]

isn't OPEC like a union?  

[kathyp]

that the price of gasoline here in Florida went up overnight 5 cents per gallon to make up for it.

the didn't get rid of the stupid mandate for using it, they just quit subsidizing it. 

[BlueBee]

If you want to compare OPEC to an American entity, I would propose the board and execs at Enron would come pretty close.  They manufactured a fake energy crisis on the west coast and laughed all the way to the bank as they bilked the west coast with fraud.   Anybody remember those Enron traders’ tapes?  In response to a forest fire shutting down a high voltage transmission line into CA:  "Burn, baby, burn. That's a beautiful thing," a trader sang about the massive fire.

Oil is back over $100 a barrel, hold on to your hats.

[kathyp]

enron was one thing.  OPEC is a joining of many for their own good.  sounds unionish to me