David Zetland:
I've opposed subsidies to corn production and ethanol blending mandates for many years (this and this argument), but these disastrous programs continue to destroy the environment, destabilize agricultural commodity markets, and raise the price of food for the world's poorest.
- Residents of Toledo, Ohio, cannot drink their water because of agricultural fertilizer runoff has led to (toxic) algae blooms. They are buying bottled water at 100x the cost of tap water
- Forty percent of the US corn crop is going into ethanol, which means no buffer capacity for production shocks elsewhere
- Forty-eight million Americans are "food insecure" due to higher food costs (and lower wages). What's crazy is that many of these "hungry" Americans are ALSO obese because the cheapest food is made of subsidized crops (e.g, corn syrup, soy fillers, etc.) that crowd out fruits and vegetables.
That Toledo drinking water story is scary.
