the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jul 2, 2007
Nationwide, milk is selling for $3.25 a gallon. It’s expected to hit $4.50 by the end of the summer!
“Experts” say part of this huge increase is due to higher oil and gasoline prices. But the other part is the much higher price for corn meal fed to dairy cows and other cattle.
And corn prices are soaring because more corn is being fed to cars in the form of ethanol.
More than 30 years ago, agribusiness started pushing for increased use of ethanol in cars. They claimed it was a way of reducing the dependence of the U.S. economy on imported oil. Lately, government officials have been claiming that ethanol is “environmentally friendly.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. Burning ethanol produces carbon dioxide (the main gas blamed for global warming) just like gasoline does. And it takes more energy–that means oil or coal–to produce ethanol–particularly from corn–than it does to produce gasoline. All things taken together, ethanol is not a gain for the environment, and is probably a net loss.
Environmentally friendly? Ha!
The politicians, auto companies and agribusiness are all pushing ethanol production now because it allows them to charge higher prices and get bigger profits for everything they produce, from corn, to cars, to milk, cheese and many other products.
Its just another big ripoff of ordinary people. We pay more, corporate profits go up, while the environment continues to be destroyed.