irony
Ethanol is billed as the answer to America's addiction to foreign oil, but the immense demand for the corn, from which ethanol is made, is also raising prices in supermarkets and restaurants across the nation. The demand to transform corn into ethanol has already doubled the average price for a bushel of corn from $2 to $4.
The corn price increases flow like gravy down the food chain, to grocery stores and menus. The cost of rounded cubed steak at local Harris Teeters is up from $4.59 last year to $5.29 this year, according to TheGroceryGame.com, which tracks prices. The Palm restaurant chain recently raised prices as much as $2 for a New York strip. And so on.
Michael Pollan best summarized our little-known reliance on corn in
The Omnivore's Dilemma:
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economics
Ethanol, the motor fuel alternative to gasoline that has the potential to save Americans a fortune at the pump and reduce our reliance on foreign oil, isn't as cheap as the strict ethanol versus gasoline price comparison may appear. In fact, it may be more expensive when total costs are calculated, reports
the AP and
MoneyCentral.
How can this be? Ethanol is made from corn and, of course, the demand for ethanol has increased the demand for corn. The demand for corn has out-stripped farmers' ability to supply more corn and thus has resulted in increased prices for corn...
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beer
Gas guzzlers don't just spew more carbon into the air, they apparently affect the price of a cold, frosty brew:
Heineken CEO Jean-Fran
ois van Boxmeer pointed out on Wednesday that the increasing demand for grain for biofuel will put pressure on the price of grain, and by extension on malt and hop prices as well, two important raw materials.
We're assuming he means that ethanol production is to blame for the spike in grain prices. (Corn is at a
10-year high today.)
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energy
If gas prices are at an all time high, why are consumers
driving more? Are they just idiots? Or is the price of a gallon of gas not the only thing to compute?
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Consumerist
