PRICELESS

It appears grain foods like corn, wheat and rice are playing hide and seek with the supermarket shelves these days. The question is what are the factors that may be causing this dearth.

Some global warming proponents, like Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute claim, "The irrigation water vital for the grain crops that feed China and India is at risk of drying up, as global warming melts the glaciers that feed Asia's biggest rivers. The world has never faced such a predictably massive threat to food production as that posed by the melting mountain glaciers of Asia." That region of the world probably houses the largest percentage of population density in the world.

Therefore, the question remains, are the Asian countries stockpiling grain supplies to the detriment of rest of the world. I do not believe that proposition. Especially when the U.S. is importing wheat and other grains for the first time that I can remember. I did not know that Asia was the only place in the world where these crops are grown.

When the price of a sack of flour or rice in Haiti is twenty times that of the average days pay for a worker, it is no wonder why there is a run on stores like Costco, BJ's, Walmart and Sam's Clubs, which has now caused them to limit the amount you can purchase. Relatives of people living in Haiti and other depressed countries, who reside in the U.S., are buying it up and shipping it to their relatives abroad.

The other problem that is on the agenda is energy. Ethanol has become the new catchword. This one word is being touted as the weapon in our fight against our addiction to oil. It is like Methadone for oil addiction. In addition, it is using up our corn supply like champagne on New Year's Eve.

It is not our addiction to oil as I see it; it is our addiction to foreign oil. It is not only my assertion, but many in the energy sector and the President as well. We have enough of our own oil right here in America, which can reverse our dependence on OPEC and release the binds that hold us in their grasp. Why do our congressional leaders [a misnomer, they don't lead they rant] continually refuse to allow us to drill our own oil?

Are they that blind or do the tree-huggers [Environmentalists] control their thought process. They are worried about displacing the Caribou or Spotted Owl. However, they have no problem displacing us through eminent domain if they needed our houses for a municipal parking lot. It does not take a brain surgeon to realize there are perfectly limpid reasons why we should be drilling our own oil and reduce our dependency on foreign oil.

Let me spell them out for you and try to explain in simple terms what it will mean to every American. Let us start with the $120 barrel of oil that we import. It may cost $120 but by the time we get it here, add on the cost of transporting it, refining it and delivering to your local filling station, then tack on the federal and local taxes and you can easily understand why you are paying almost $4.00 a gallon.

It is a known fact, that there is enough oil in ANWR alone to supply us for 250 years. Our illustrious leaders refuse to allow us to drill in the Gulf, but China is about to erect an oil platform 50 miles off the coast of Florida. Do you believe that we can erect an oil platform much more environmentally safer than China? We have tremendous amounts of coal reserves.

During WW II, Germany was converting coal into clean burning fuel through a process known as the Fischer-Tropsch process (Coal Gasification). There is also untapped regions of shale oil that we can gather from Colorado shale. It has been estimated that we can gather all the oil we need from all these sources at an average cost of about $23 a barrel. Furthermore, we have not built a refinery in the U.S. in over thirty-years. What are we waiting for?

The second reason is the U.S. dollar is at an all time low. If the dollar is to rally, the European Central Bank must reduce their interest rate. That will not happen until the price of the world's commodities start to decline. If we start drilling, the price of oil will drop dramatically. The price of Gold, Silver, Copper and all the other commodities will follow. Europe will be forced to reduce their interest rate and the dollar will rally. As an aside, think of all the jobs that we will create by drilling.

Third, we can then supply oil to China and India at a much cheaper price than they can buy it from the Saudis. If the Saudis undercut our price we tell China they must buy it from us or we reevaluate our free trade policies. They need us more to buy their goods than we need them. I know you are probably thinking that they will retaliate by not buying our Treasury notes. They are buying them with our money. The money we use to buy their goods is sent right back here to buy those notes. If we drill our own oil, we can become the oil barons of the world. We will not need them to buy our treasury notes. If you think that is conjecture, the proof is in the fact that the Saudis do not borrow. They only have one resource.

At the same time, we have to start developing alternate energy sources. Talking about "Wind Thermal Generators" and Nuclear power plants does not get the job done. Start building them, not tomorrow, NOW! All we do is come up with "Cafe Standards" that won't take place for ten-years or develop hydrogen engines for cars. How much will we spend on developing the fuel for these vehicles?

FYI, hydrogen cars emit water vapors from their exhaust systems not Carbon Monoxide. Picture millions of hydrogen cars humming along the roads of our northern states in the middle of winter spraying water behind them; laying down a ribbon of Black-Ice. Who dreams up these cars?

Nevertheless, we have Ethanol the new Methadone for oil addiction. Here are the facts:

Corn is a mainstay of American agriculture -- it is an important ingredient in cereals and bakery goods. Corn syrup is used to make processed foods like candy, and soft drinks. More importantly, it is the major source of food for cattle, pigs, turkeys and other animals that are destined for our dinner tables.

David Pimental, a leading Cornell University agricultural expert, has calculated "that powering the average automobile for one year on ethanol (blended with gasoline) derived from corn would require eleven acres of farmland, the same space needed to grow a year's supply of food for seven people."

If all the automobiles in the U.S. were fueled with 100% percent ethanol, about 97% of the U.S. land areas would be needed to grow the necessary corn. Corn would cover nearly the entire land area of the U.S.

It takes one gallon of oil to run the equipment that is needed to produce one gallon of ethanol.

It costs about $1.74 per gallon to produce ethanol, compared with about 95 cents to produce one gallon of gasoline.

On the environmental side corn production erodes soil about 12 times faster than the natural recharge rate of ground water.

The approximately $1 billion a year in current federal and state subsidies for ethanol production are not the only cost to taxpayers. Subsidized corn results in higher prices for meat, milk and eggs because about 70 percent of corn grain is fed to livestock and poultry in the United States. Increasing ethanol production would further inflate corn prices. This in turn would significantly raise food prices in the marketplace.

Maybe you should just smack yourselves on the head and say, "I should have had a V-8." Wake up America before it is too late. If this doesn't get you out of your chairs to call your Senators and Congressional Representatives nothing will.

It may only be a matter of time before the worldwide food shortage hits the movie theaters. It may not be funny when your favorite theater starts rationing your favorite movie snack.

Two tickets to the movies; $16, one large soda with two straws; $4.00, one tub of popcorn; priceless, if you can get it.

And, that is my opinion.

Michael Solomon

Author of 'Where Did My America Go?"

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