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Another Stupid Idea

By Randinho, Section Diaries
Posted on Thu Oct 18, 2007 at 09:39:43 PM EST
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In the real world, if one cannot make a living doing one line of work, one finds a different line of work. One shouldn't expect the government to prop up your desire to continue to do business in this fashion as this man appears to believe:

"Sugar farming has been my whole life," said Michael Comb, 48, general
manager of the Louisiana Sugar Cane Cooperative in St. Martinville. "I

was 8 years old when I got on a tractor in a sugar field. It's all I

know."

As the article notes, sugar only grows in warm climates and in the US it only grows in southern Louisiana, the southernmost tip of Texas and parts of Florida. It certainly appears to me that not enough sugar can be grown in the US to have a meaningful impact on the ethanol market.

There's another issue that the article doesn't address: The European Union has already lost in the WTO for sugar export subsidies. Given the recent loss in the WTO on cotton subsidies and the fifty cent per gallon tariff on imported ethanol, do they honestly think that this will pass muster?

Cross-posted at Beautiful Horizons

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    Another Stupid Idea | 16 comments (16 topical)

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    ok... so... what is your remedy? (none / 0) (#1)
    by Michael Gass on Thu Oct 18, 2007 at 10:34:55 PM EST
    This is a guy who is 48 years old.  He probably has no college degree, and, by the time he could get one he would be 52 or 53 years old.  Who would hire him?

    So, what is he to do?  Work at Wal-Mart?  McDonald's?  Wendy's?  Where?

    We are giving Big-Oil billions in oil subsidies despite the fact they have made record profits year after year.  

    Here's a GOOD idea:  stop paying oil companies and start paying farmers like this guy.  He'll have a job and the taxpayer will save a billion dollars.

    Oh Please (none / 0) (#13)
    by Randinho on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 06:22:59 PM EST
    I've changed careers twice. most recently at forty-eight. Why? I had no choice and I also had no government help.

    Parent
    Oh please nothing... (none / 0) (#14)
    by Michael Gass on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 07:29:58 PM EST
    Do you have a college degree?

    Do you live out in rural BFE or in a metropolitan city that actually has jobs?

    Did you have other skills to rely upon?

    You say you've changed "careers", yet, you don't state HOW, WHAT career you had to what you went to, etc...

    I've changed careers.  I was a military bomb tech who went into law enforcement.  Gee... not like those are RELATED or anything!  

    So, before you sniff your nose into the air... tell us how your background differs from his.

    Parent

    Been There Done That (none / 0) (#16)
    by Randinho on Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 08:23:23 PM EST
    I have a BA and changed careers once in a small town and once in a large city. St. Martinsville Parish is not far from New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

    My main skill was an inability to whine and work hard to support my wife and myself.

    Parent

    Ever hear of a Sugar Beet? (none / 0) (#2)
    by Peaches on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 10:27:49 AM EST
    They grow in cold climates in North Dakota and Minnesota.

    Sugar Cane, yes, warm climates

    Sugar Beet - cold climates

    Both are sources for sugar, but I don't know the feasibility of using beets for ethanol, nor whether Ethanol can be a feasible alternative fuel to replace gasoline.

    But your contention that the government should not protect farmers is the stupidest idea of all. Exposing our farmers to world trade significantly reduces the quality of our food in the US and reduces the security of our Food supply. It is a national security issue. The farmer you refer to should be retrained to grow crops for his community rather than compete to grow cash crops for the global marketplace like sugar cane for Ethanol. This requires protections and tariffs on foreign food sources, however and a community that will pay the necessary higher prices for food that is local and higher quality in both nutrition and taste.

    Ethanol producers make the stuff (none / 0) (#6)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 02:33:57 PM EST
    from corn starch. Utilizing sugar, apparenlty, would require significant investment in infrastructure for a relatively small amount of additional fermentable material.

    iow, in general, ethanol producers don't want the sugar. At any price.

    Parent

    Ethanol from corn (none / 0) (#7)
    by Peaches on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 03:15:43 PM EST
    is another story...

    A subsidy to agribusiness that does not benefit rural communities.

    Speaking of which Krugman (the liar, or propagandist in your terms) had an interesting column this morning on the GOP machine and he made an interesting comment on your favorite democrat (/sarcasm) and her support of rural communities and agriculture.

    Here's an example of the sort of thing that makes you wonder: yesterday ABC News reported on its Web site that the Clinton campaign is holding a "Rural Americans for Hillary" lunch and campaign briefing -- at the offices of the Troutman Sanders Public Affairs Group, which lobbies for the agribusiness and biotech giant Monsanto. You don't have to be a Naderite to feel uncomfortable about the implied closeness.

    People talk about subsidies and gov't support of farmers as if they are benefiting farmers when they are for the gov't support goes to the big agri-industries instead. None of this supports rural communities, ethanol included.


    Parent

    You gotta stop reading that guy, Peaches, (none / 0) (#8)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 03:19:29 PM EST
    he'll twist your mind. ;-)

    Parent     </