trust me i will never deny that he is an amazing politician. he has performed at a top notch level. this election is already over due to obama's performance.
iow, who's ever president, do you think they will eliminate ethanol plants, subsidies, projects in the next four years
Obama's Energy Plan: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/pdf/EnergyFactSheet.pdf Obama's speech: http://www.barackobama.com/2007/10/08/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_28.php McCain's Speech: http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing...spx?guid=65ee015f-0eb2-46e3-b7c5-5e9da01d08d4 And from his website:
understood....but he is not against it and he called it good when there is no debating that it has been absolutely horrible. it is simply not a good transitional technology as he stated. just because someone understands that a technology is not permanent doesn't mean they are against it. further, you don't call something good if you are against it. imo if obama was not from a corn producing state then he would have never supported corn ethanol. you feel one way....i feel the other.
they need to but they have to get it past congress. mccain won't be able to get the corn ethanol subsidies ended with a democratic congress and obama is in no hurry to end them. unless there is a massive grassroots effort that illustrates to the american public how destructive corn ethanol has been then there will be no changes anytime soon. trust me...if i thought otherwise i would be looking to make money off of it. it's not like i am allowed to be biased when it comes to companies that are this powerful in the stock market. btw...does anyone know if corn takes more fertilizer than other crops?
ah...i never clicked the spoiler. wow....that would be a freakin massive trade if obama changed his mind and came out against corn subsidies like mccain. there would be complete 180's with the ag stocks. makes me want to start doing research to see if some of those companies are overleveraging themselves based on future growth potential.
Agreed. This is one issue that will be flushed out over the summer and fall. It used to be there was no political risk in supporting ethanol but time changes things.
Thanks for the links, rimrocker. Obama's energy plan is technically impressive. Seems like he'd be open to trying out all measures. Things like clean coal, biofuels with focus on corn ethanol, and nuclear energy has been espoused by Bush. I'd call him a success if he could enable the half of the long term goals (clean tech work force, manufacturing reform, LCFS, building code reform, smart digital grid, infrastructure for biofuels) in his first 2 years. Doing it while he's in office is a different matter, but just mentioning these policies is amazing in it's own right after the last 8 years...
I'm not interested in who is to blame for the ethanol debacle. I'm interested in solutions to our energy problems without screwing the average American citizen.
i doubt corn-based ethanol will every be any kind of solution to our energy needs even on a small scale. But seems like the sugar cane based fuel has some promise and there are other biofuels worth exploring. I think Obama will push for our industries to go in that direction but has to pay lip service to the corn industry regardless. In reality - the energy crisis we face won't be eleviated by any action done by any president in the short term. There is no short term solution (other then getting rid of speculators). We need a long-term strategy which includes: 1. Increase in nuclear energy / build plants 2. Increase in fuel economy standards 3. Improved mass transit and car pooling lanes 4. Investment into alternative energy research 5. Conservation programs and education. National energy awareness. Associate conserving energy as a patriotic duty. 6. Energy tax on inefficient goods (hummers, SUV's, non-energy star appliances and electronics) 7. Require all gov't functions to use hyrbid technology 8. Encourage India and China to build better mass transit I'm sure there's plenty of other things as well. But I just think corn based ethanol is not going to take us very far.
