A sharp rise in food prices has developed into a global crisis, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.Action! Yes! Wait...how did we get here in the first place? The Freep is not kind enough to let us in on the secret, but Captain Ed Morrissey confirms what everyone already knew--at least, those who are paying attention to the current global climate hysterics:Ban said the United Nations and all members of the international community are very concerned, and immediate action is needed.
In a way, the entire concept of biofuels as currently applied makes no sense at all. Instead of using food to actually feed people or even animals, we use it to feed our cars. Ethanol has suddenly lost its luster as an alternative energy source as food prices have skyrocketed, including in global-warming-sympathizing EuropeWho could possibly have predicted that these sorts of policies would be bad for poor countries? Hmmm. Captain Ed talks about the ethical issue of "feeding cars, not people," but the fact is that the real issue here is the power of the free market. Using corn-based ethanol to power cars is so ludicrous a way to help the environment that even college students don't support it. (Of course, considering the power of the agricultural lobby, led by Archer Daniels Midland, it was inevitable that increased government power to interfere on behalf of the environment would lead to absurd new agricultural policies.) Nothing enhances efficiency like the free market, which has already been bringing automobiles to higher and higher standards of fuel efficiency. If there is an economically viable alternative, let it flourish on its own. As it is, if people thought land use issues were important now, just wait until millions of new acres are used exclusively for corn now that prices are skyrocketing.
But instead, the government will simply wash its hands of this experiment in economic management and move onto the next failure. Wait and see.
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