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John,

This is my position on farm subsidies for the US and Europe as well.

The were supposed, at first, to help small farmers not big agro-industrial complex.

Some of the negative effects of farm subsidies are:
1-terrible for having a diversity of crops, if the government is giving you money to plant corn you will do it.This is why,when driving in Iowa you see nothing but corn.

2-Impact on the 3rd world: The insidiuous side effect of farm subsidies is also to make growing crops,in Africa for example, not competitive on the world wide market.

Farm subsidies are,in my opinion, a big contributing factor in the current global food crisis. They were put in place for political reason ( political pandering to be exact) both in the US and in Europe to " protect farmers".

If McCain would stick to his gun on this issue, I would agree with him...but don't worry, John, he won't.

Speaking out against farm subsidies is political suicide for a presidential candidate.

But further, John, what Bush, McCain and the Congress " should be ashamed of " is having wasted 650 billion ( and counting)of money we don't have to fight a war we can't win. That to me, John, is a scandal much bigger than the farm subsidies.

I can't tell where you are coming from on this vis-a-vis McCain or Bush or the Hunger theme of your blog topic!

On May 20, McCain himself wrote in an editorial:
" Congress should be ashamed of this mockery of its promise to rein in waste and earmarks. Buried within its hundreds of pages is $93 million in tax breaks for race horses, a $4 billion trust fund for disaster payments on top of subsidized crop insurance that is supposed to take care of such “disasters,” and the list goes on. If that wasn’t enough, this bill would send $250 million of taxpayers’ money to Plum Creek Timber Co. in Montana. Plum Creek, according to its Web site, “is the largest and most geographically diverse private land owner in the nation” and paid a healthy dividend to shareholders last quarter.

It is time to wean ourselves from the huge crop subsidies being paid by taxpayers and the flawed policies that distort the markets, artificially raise prices for consumers and pit producers against consumers."

whereas, Obama said :
" The bill places greater resources into renewable energy and conservation. And, during this time of rising food prices, the farm bill provides an additional $10 billion for critical nutrition programs. I am also pleased that the bill includes my proposal to help thousands of African-American farmers get their discrimination claims reviewed under the Pigford settlement.

“This bill is far from perfect. I believe in tighter payment limits and a ban on packer ownership of livestock. As president, I will continue to fight for the interests of America’s family farmers and ranchers and ensure that assistance is geared towards those producers who truly need them, instead of large agribusinesses. But with so much at stake, we cannot make the perfect the enemy of the good."

see : http://donklephant.com/2008/05/20/mccain...

On May 22, the house overwhelmingly overrode a Bush veto of the bill.

"At midday, Bush vetoed the bill, declaring: "Americans sent us to Washington to achieve results and be good stewards of their hard-earned taxpayer dollars. This bill violates that fundamental commitment." Bush objected to subsidies for wealthy agribusinesses at a time of high food prices and record farm income.

Hours later, the House voted 316 to 108 to override the veto, with 100 Republicans siding with 216 Democrats. The Senate voted last week, 81 to 15, to approve the farm bill. "

see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Maybe this is one more reason why you should not be supporting Obama.

in favor of ethanol subsidies and said so when he voted AGAINST the Farm bill this spring. Obama voted FOR the bill.

Accurate data, John, producing ethanol from corn doesn't make any sense. On the other hand, ethanol production from sugar cane is a workable proposition, Brazil is self reliant on ethanol from sugar cane.

Another factor to take in consideration for the global food crisis is that it takes 8 pounds of corn ( the main feed for cattles) to produce 1 pound of meat. As countries such as China become richer their consumption of beef increase and so on....

Unlike the anonymous post suggested that "drilling for oil in the US", is the answer, I think we need to look into just about everything else: nuclear for electricity production, more wind farms, solar, wave turbines and, urgently, put back electrical cars on line ( GM had some 20 years ago!).

i have also read where it takes 7 gallons of fuel to produce and get 8 gallons of corn ethanol-85 to the pump. Then the ethanol-85 gets 15% less mileage.

To me, that is the utter scam of it all, not the 'hunger' scare part ...

Argentina is self reliant on ethanol fuel and exports, but we subsidize our own rather than import from there. amazing criminal graft.

Charles,

Both candidates are now supporting the farm subsidies for the production of ethanol.

McCain was against it, a few years back, but he has changed his position since. The reason...one word:Iowa. Nobody can get elected without Iowa, and if you cut the farm subsidies they won't vote for you. It is very simple.

The rise of corn prices( driving all food prices up, meat etc) will be even worse this year because of the recent floods.

Not a pretty picture, no matter how you look at it.

Obama's position on ethanol subsidies: Full speed ahead.

So, it's the game within the game within the game yet again?

The bottom line is this.

There is a food shortage.

There is a gas shortage.

We can all point fingers, but what do we do about. I am all about solutions.

I read this article and another that followed and at the end of my biofuel journey I ended up with not really an idea of how to comment, but more with a tear in my eye and a very empty feeling.

Everything seems so hard.

Everything seems so corrupt.

The last thing that needs to be done is the rise of global food cost. People are starving and can not afford even a loaf of bread in other countries and are literally starving to death. AND, as far as gasoline, people are burning their cars dowsing them in gas out of protest due to the high gas prices because no one can afford to drive their cars with the rising prices.

I could say it might be a good time to rethink what you're driving and act accordingly, but the problem goes way beyond that at this point.

Whether Gore is on to something or not when it comes to global warming really is not the issue. How I feel or don't feel about him personally is not the issue. The more important issue at hand is FACT - the world of which we live in is in a crisis and what are we going to do about it.

Our world is terminally ill.

What is sad... it doesn't have to be this way. There does not have to be a shortage of food or oil, but politics are getting in the way of solving this problem. Why? Greed, Money and Power!

So now we have this assessment based on a very deteailed analysis of this biofuel crisis which is a report from the World Bank that has not been published to avoid embarrassing Bush. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? He is already an embarrassment. Maybe this would be enough to IMPEACH the @#$@#.

If this report was released it would put the World Bank in a bad position with the White House? SERIOUSLY? Well now, that is really a shame. How about this.. maybe someone should step up to the plate, taking responsibility, do the right thing (for once) and do something about it before more people die in order for someone to save face!

This is just another example of one political hand washing the other...

Correct me if I am wrong, but if you know fire burns, you don't touch it. If you know by using corn in your tank, millions will die, what are you thinking about. There should be NO decision. I think I will just continue to pop my corn!