As Borat would say: $59 oil is really slowing down globalization-NOT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ajK_waG4MiRY&refer=w...

The funniest thing is the "solution" is for China's currency to strengthen faster than the current 4-5% per annum since 2005.

This is of interest for me so I'm moving this set of postings from the last drumbeat to start a recent thread:

Leannan's link above: I told you so: Daylight Savings Time doesn't save energy

geewiz on March 12, 2007 - 1:37am | Permalink | Subthread ^

Daylight savings time being used earlier, does it help or hurt?

http://blogs.wsj.com/energy/

Uhhh, not really!

Substrate on March 12, 2007 - 6:57am | Permalink | Subthread ^

Just as a personal observation, I've found that I've started having to use my headlights again in the morning, and other people are using theirs as well. Though basically inconsequential at the personal level, running headlights does take energy and adds up when taken across the fleet. Also, with the "extra" daylight available after work I've found myself inclined to go hiking, and according to a local news piece, golfing activity picks up when DST rolls around. I'm guessing other people have similar inclinations to get out and do things with the extra daylight. Get enough inclinations together and you've got increased activity, increased activity leading to increased driving, consumption. I'm wondering if that's going to be significant. It should be interesting to see what the weekly gasoline inventory report looks like when it comes out for this coming week.

Halliburton to move HQ to Dubai

Halliburton, a US oil services company, said Sunday it will open a corporate headquarters in Dubai, extending operations in the Middle East and Asia.

The company is currently being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] and the US justice department over allegations of improper business affairs in Iraq, Kuwait and Nigeria.

"Halliburton chairman, president and chief executive officer Dave Lesar will move to Dubai to lead the company's efforts in growing Halliburton's business in the Eastern hemisphere, an important market for the global oil and gas industry," the company said in a press release.

I haven't seen this in the main stream financial news headlines yet today, but Al Jazeera is reporting it.

There are implications for Americans here that go way beyond this one particular corporate move. Think down the road a bit.

While the average American may think Oregon will be place to be when the going gets tough, other "Americans" think, um, maybe Dubai.

The Saudi beat goes on...

More Saudi Cuts in April
South Korean refiners get 9% cut in Saudi term crudes for April

Singapore (Platts)--12Mar2007
South Korean refiners have received a higher cut of 9% in their April
liftings for term crudes from Saudi Arabia, sources close to the refiners
told Platts Monday.

Last month, Saudi Aramco slashed its term allocation for March crude
supplies into South Korea by 7-8%.

For the second consecutive month, cuts were focused largely on Arab
Heavy.

The reduction will probably support spot sales of heavier Persian Gulf
sour crudes, a trader said: "South Korean refiners should be able to manage the cuts without too much of a fuss though," another market player said.

The way it's presented, of course, is that there are a few unfortunate and isolated incidents. But as horror stories about the Gulf coast keep accumulating, and Walter Reed is being played out against the backdrop of countless desperate veterans (remind anyone of Vietnam?), it's legitimate to ask if there is a pattern emerging, how much the government cares about its weakest citizens, and how much more of this lies in our future.

'We Called It Hurricane FEMA'

Shortly after noon, FEMA agents began rapping on the trailer doors, their knocks resounding inside the tinny white homes. Everyone in the park, the agents announced without warning, would have to pack and leave within 48 hours.

Where do we go now?

Why?

What about school?

To the residents of the Yorkshire Mobile Home Park, all of them families displaced by Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency crews offered answers that were uncertain and sometimes contradictory. As residents spilled out of their homes to meet their similarly bewildered neighbors, the adults wondered where they would be sent next, and how far they might wind up from their jobs. Some began sobbing. Then the children, seeing their parents' tears, began crying, too. A woman fainted, and an ambulance came.

"It was like shock and awe," recalled Ron Harrell, 40, a tenant. "We called it Hurricane FEMA."

US generals ‘will quit’ if Bush orders Iran attack

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1434540.ece

Recently, there has been some discussion about how some people interested in peak oil also seem to have interests in other areas, particularly the current real estate situation in the U.S. (and to a lesser extent, in other areas such as Great Britain).

Certainly Kunstler sees the subjects as inseparable, but there is an element which many of those who find the two subjects unrelated may be missing.

Germany has been fostering an alternative energy industry for several decades now, first in reaction to the oil shocks of the 1970s, and as part of a political trend exemplified by the Green Party - a majority of German voters wanted a cleaner environment for themselves and their children, and were willing to follow binding changes - mandatory recycling, or increasingly stringent standards concerning building insulation, for example, or market based incentives to create a viable wind and photovoltaic market. (There was also a strong pacifist element, which is too complicated to discuss here, but an aspect of it was to reduce conflict by fostering self-sufficiency.)

These investments have been essentially been financed from savings, and they do show a profit, even if the traditional energy companies complain bitterly about their 'burden' (there is a fixed rate which electricity generated from wind or solar which an electric company must pay, who then in term turns around and charges this in turn to all the company's other customers - the 'subsidy' for renewable energy does not really come from the energy company's pocket, as they so desperately try to argue in public, but from the pockets of all the consumers who do not generate their own power - an idea that the energy companies really, really don't want to spread).

Once started, such an investment cycle tends to bring the expected long term benefits, if left to grow. See Saudi Arabia and the 1980s to see what I mean - and this is one reason for my belief that peak oil is here - the alternatives are no longer being drowned in a flood of oil. (Though as an alternative explanation, maybe such a fine progressive nation as Saudi Arabia feels that global warming is such a huge problem for humanity, that instead of the royal family putting personal profit first, they have decided to save billions of infidels, as that would be worthy charity in the eyes of Allah.)

And this is the crux - where will the debt and fraud ridden American economy find the capital to change how it exists? Especially as the debt and fraud seems anchored in the American Dream of suburbia. Here, Kunstler is absolutely correct - while the last decades have seen America live from never-ending suburban growth, nothing realistic has been done to deal with a longer term future, when oil becomes expensive.

In other words, when the current American housing house of cards collapse (look at Florida in the 1920s for a fine feel of what I mean, and notice the interesting timing between its collapse and Wall Street's collapse), who will be paying for the necessary infrastructure to remain a civilized society? A massive prison building industry doesn't count as civilized, by the way.

This is the sort of question that ties real estate and peak oil together, at least in the U.S. In other societies, such long range idiocy has not been so single-mindedly pursued, which is why people who are focused on America also think the world is doomed.

While the fracturing of America seems to be fairly certain in my eyes (though by no means inevitable), it is harder to generalize this across a complex world. This is also true in terms of economic collapse - while America's production of mortgages may fall from its world leading dynamic heights, the German investment in PV, wind, solar heating, home insulation, high efficiency wood stoves, district heating using biomass, high efficiency furnaces and ground coupled heat pumps, and an electric rail system will still exist and be functioning in the next five years.

As a matter of fact, America would be a fine customer for such high quality and valuable German products, except that Germans are likely to prefer something tangible in exchange, which these days, the Chinese are in a better position to offer - at least the Chinese still make shirts, which means they don't need to pay with the shirt off their backs.

When looking at America, it is easy to see doom spreading as far as the eye can see. After making that conclusion in 1982, I have been wrong for 25 years. Except the reasons for my conclusions - a lack of awareness of even what needs to be done in American society, and generally no concrete actions to what extent awareness exists - haven't changed. (Though the reactions against such changes seems to have grown - what was once called prudent Yankee frugality now seems to be considered something only acceptable to 'extremists.') The only thing that has changed is that 25 years have gone by, and America is essentially flat broke. The nightmare future of then is today's now - big cars with wretched gas mileage driving over former farmland to go to houses that are larger than ever before, full of energy consuming appliances with no purpose but self-indulgence - a TV in every room seems to have beat the chicken in every pot hands down, and the sizzle is what consumers are interested in, not the steak.

The real estate boom does share one other concrete aspect of peak oil - the belief in never ending growth meeting reality, even if most people refuse to believe that reality actually matters in human affairs. Strangely, Germans seem to think silicon and insulation add more to a house's long term value than granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.

"I think anyone with half a brain understands that we all have to change our habits in order to limit the greenhouse gases." is a quote from a BMW owning German in the article linked above. He likes driving fast, but if the laws change, he won't argue about prying the steering wheel from his cold dead hands, or whatever the latest American slogan is for defending brain dead behavior.

This is part of what is so often missed in these debates - many people do things that they know aren't really good, but generally, people in societies other than America seem to recognize a sense of balance, and respect for the law. I have read that 97% of the Autobahn already has speed limits (a number that has been increasing steadily), and that last 3% is as much symbolic as anything else.

Coal, Mules & Sweat

Some old photos of streetcar construction in Toronto. Still feasible post-Peak Oil (with some changes in construction).

Keele and Dundas, August 22, 1912

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/...

Queen and Victoria, July 26, 1911

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/...

Dundas west to Royce, August 2, 1912

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/...

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/...

Please note that this was in the era of Peak Streetcar (~1887-1916) when 500 US cities, towns and villages built everything from subways to short streetcar lines.

Best Hopes,

Alan

This was posted a while ago, but is coming back up more and more on another board I frequent. I've been pushing peak oil over there and I find more and more stuff to support it in the financial markets. This is reasoning for the underlying 2:1 increase in trading of long dated future contracts >3yrs starting in 2004 as monitored by CFTC.

http://forum.themarkettraders.com/read-m/25/1020/1020#msg-1020

So there you have it, folks. J.P. Morgan was chosen to head up the “new” infantile Iraqi Central Bank. They quickly moved to “collateralize” Iraqi assets [what else does Iraq have that the world needs besides OIL?] to rebuild [or redistribute the rubble, perhaps?] the country.

Funny, isn’t it; that this “COLLATERALIZATION” just happened to coincide with an “explosion” in trading volume of “LONG DATED” [greater than 3 years maturity] crude oil futures contracts.

We all know J.P. Morgan’s penchant for parades and to DERIVATIZE, don’t we?

If one stops to consider the impact of trading “commodities + other” to J.P. Morgan’s revenue Q3/03 vs. Q3/06 – you will notice that revenue has gone from 50 million to 625 million [a twelve fold increase] in three years. This data is available at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Quarterly Derivative Fact Sheet [Q3/03 vs. Q3/06] in .pdf form.

If Iraqi Oil has really has been pledged to “underpin” the explosive growth of trade in long dated crude oil futures – the crude reality is that the costs of “quitting Iraq” need to be reassessed yet again.

Perhaps the crude reality is that the growth in long dated crude oil futures trade has more to do with a strategy to deal with PEAK OIL?

http://thefinancedude.blogspot.com

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070312/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear_7

MOSCOW - The state-run Russian company building
Iran's first nuclear power plant said Monday that the reactor's launch will be postponed because of Iranian payment delays.

"It will be impossible to launch the reactor in September, and there can be no talk about supplying fuel this month," Atomstroiexport said in a statement that followed the collapse of bilateral talks last week on the funding dispute.

http://thefinancedude.blogspot.com

The energy saving arguments for DST are even less true now than they were in 1986 when we last fiddle with the clocks. Why are we wasting time with daylight saving when a one mile per gallon increase in average US fuel economy would result in 4% less gas consumption (and 1.6% lower oil consumption over all)?

http://maisonbisson.com/blog/post/11578/

If you have an accident on Germany's autobahns at over 130kph, its automatically your fault. This their version of a speed limit, the other 3% are construction zones. More like 97% of the autobahns don't have a compulsary speed limit. Wouldn't exactly call the French balanced, they are anarchists at heart. Germans don't exactly have the best history either, 60 years hasn't changed that much, note their reaction to the East Germans ie "Build the Wall Higher!!!". Holland is the only truly sustainable country in Europe that I've seen personally.

As I sit in the Orient where the cites are totally unsustainable, and they want to grow the population by 30%, my home in the states doesn't look half bad. Atleast in the suburbs, you can grow corn and tomatoes if you have a house with a decent sized yard. Now if I can just get that train ride to work.

Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who didn't.

A government that is big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it away.
-Barry M. Goldwater-

It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier. - Heinlein

To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth - Col Cooper

I am surprised that so far no one has commented on this important news:

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has notified Asian refiners it will cut April crude supplies by about 10 percent below its term contracts, industry sources told Reuters on Monday, after its March supplies to Asia were 7-8 percent below contracted volumes.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=hotStocks...

Zimbabwe tortures opposition leaders

Top opposition leaders were assaulted and tortured by police who broke up a prayer meeting planned to protest government policies, colleagues of the activists said Monday.

One protester was shot dead by police in Sunday's unrest in the outskirts of the capital and scores of others were arrested. Journalists trying to cover the events also were arrested.

In a statement, organizers of the prayer meeting, an alliance of opposition, civic, church leaders and student and anti-government groups, said lawyers who visited the detainees Monday reported the main opposition party leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, fainted three times after being beaten by police.

The alliance, called the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, said another opposition leader, Lovemore Madhuku, was taken to the main Harare hospital early Monday after collapsing from police assaults.

At least four other opposition and civic leaders were beaten and tortured in custody, the campaign said.

Leanan -- Thank you! The lead link to Swans Commentary, while its preliminary focus is on remarks by candidate Dennis Kucinich, the whole covers reality and is satisfyingly comprehensive. It is madness to divert prime food-growing areas, especially in the corn belt, to the expensive and soil-wasting production of biofuels. An even worse practise, in the long run, is that of destroying rain forest in favor of oil palm plantations. Those forests will take centuries or millenia to recover.

When temperatures, food prices, and fuel prices skyrocket, and water becomes scarce, just whose "non-negotiable American lifestyle" will remain non-negotiated?

Cheers,
Mort.

Kuwait's plan

Platts: Kuwait determined to expand capacity to 4 million b/d: official
Kuwait determined to expand capacity to 4 million b/d: official

Dubai (Platts)--12Mar2007

OPEC producer Kuwait is determined to proceed with an $8 billion project
to raise the crude oil production capacity of its northern fields to 900,000
b/d with the help of foreign oil companies as part of a plan to raise overall
capacity to 4 million b/d by 2010, a senior Kuwaiti oil official said Monday.

...

"Those reservoirs hold as much as 10 billion barrels of oil and we
anticipate that $8 billion of investment will be needed to reach the 900,000
b/d figure and maintain that plateau as long as possible while preserving the
integrity of the reservoir and maximizing its recoverable reserves."

...

At a crude production rate of 4 million b/d, KPC anticipates water
production of 10 million b/d.
"The management of so much water, with its associated corrosion, will be
a challenge. This is why the participation of international oil companies in
our future investments is critical. We remain committed to work with our
parliament to move this project forward," Sheikh Nawaf said.

------------------------

I don't know much about how water cuts evolve with time, but starting with a water cut in the 60% range intuitively doesn't seem to leave much hope for maintaining that level of production for very long...

re: opec production quotas...."the secondary factor for them would be the inventory situation"

Propane cars explode, part of city being evacuated
By WILLIAM KATES
Monday, March 12, 2007 11:59 AM EDT

ONEIDA (AP) -- A fiery explosion of a freight train carrying liquid propane forced an evacuation Monday from this small central New York city and shut down a section of the state Thruway.

The 7 a.m. blast sent a huge fireball into the dawn sky. Thick, black smoke continued to pour out hours later as about half a dozen propane tanker cars burned, said Oneida Police Chief David Meeker. Fire crews were trying to keep the flames from spreading to other tankers on the derailed 80-car train, about half of which carried propane.

"There is danger of further explosions," said Oneida Fire Department Lt. Kevin Salerno.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or fatalities.

A 23-mile stretch of the Thruway, which passes within a mile of the explosion, was closed in both directions as a precaution, said Patrick Noonan, a spokesman for the Thruway Authority.

http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/03/12/news/latest/doc45f56ad3ef9d1...

Newsweek's cover story is about new advances in human evolution research.

Among other things, it says that the "man the hunter" theory has been totally discredited. It was "man the hunted."

The realization that early humans were the hunted and not hunters has upended traditional ideas about what it takes for a species to thrive. For decades the reigning view had been that hunting prowess and the ability to vanquish competitors was the key to our ancestors' evolutionary success (an idea fostered, critics now say, by the male domination of anthropology during most of the 20th century). But prey species do not owe their survival to anything of the sort, argues Sussman. Instead, they rely on their wits and, especially, social skills to survive. Being hunted brought evolutionary pressure on our ancestors to cooperate and live in cohesive groups. That, more than aggression and warfare, is our evolutionary legacy.

Maybe there's hope for us yet...

Cosmic Log, MSNBC's science blog, has an ethanol post. It's called "Where Ethanol Is King."

Robert Anex, associate director of the Office of Biorenewable Programs at Iowa State University in Ames, envisions a time when portable cellulose processors work right alongside the corn combines, manufacturing "bio-oil" that can be trucked out to the refineries. He's also a proponent of double-crop sequences - for example, planting a relative of wheat known as triticale in the winter, then harvesting that and planting short-season corn in the spring. Both crops could provide food as well as the raw material for ethanol.

"Now there's an economic incentive to plant a cover crop," Anex explained.

If Iowans do it wrong, the land will pay the price: Anex estimated that soil erosion could create a situation in which the state loses a pound of topsoil for every gallon of ethanol gained. But if the state does it right, we could see the rise of an energy emirate that capitalizes on a wide variety of biofuel technologies - ranging from biomass syngas to new synergies with livestock operations (which can produce the methane to power ethanol distilleries).

The richest city in the world

Welcome to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates and the richest city in the world. The emirate's 420,000 citizens, who sit on one-tenth of the planet's oil and have almost $1 trillion invested abroad, are worth about $17 million apiece. (A million foreign workers don't share in the wealth.) Yet most people couldn't find Abu Dhabi on a map. Khaldoon's job is to change that. Tall, handsome, and politically savvy, he wants to make his hometown mentioned in the same breath as Singapore, Tokyo - and yes, Dubai.

Re: "Oil that fries your burger can run your car."

State makes big fuss over local couple's vegetable oil car fuel here:

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2007/03/01/news/local_news/1021491...

This guy is pretty bearish about oil price in the near term:

http://www.dailyreckoning.co.uk/article/oilsoutlookin20070108.html

There is some merit in his comments, particularly as the US housing market/subprime collapse seems to be going from bad to worse - how much this spills over to the broader economy is now the key. The oil price has been week these past few sessions (despite what should have been some bullish US figures last wednesday). The market factoring in US demand fall?

I saw this and immediately thought of totonelia, and his insistence on wheelbarrows to move mountains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0&eurl=http://j-walkblog.com/in...

Building Stonehenge - This Man can Move Anything

Also good for those who ever wondered about Stonehenge construction.

India's coal demand to quadruple by 2031

India's demand for coal may exceed two billion tonnes a year by 2031-32, up from about 460 million tonnes a year now according to the country's minister for coal, Dasari Rao.

To ensure energy security, India "has taken steps in acquiring coal properties abroad," Rao said in a paper distributed at an industry event on Monday.

He did not attend the conference in Mumbai and the paper gave no further details on where the country was looking to invest in coal mining.

Rao said that the Indian government's Committee on Integrated Energy Policy recently noted that coal must maintain its current share in India's overall energy mix for the next 25 years if the country is to sustain economic growth at over 9 percent a year.

This will require the government to plan coal production and ensure there is adequate infrastructure for imports, which will need to rise to around 50 million tonnes a year within the next five years to bridge the gap between demand and supply, Rao said.

The boost in coal usage will also lead to rising carbon dioxide emissions, with the Indian subcontinent likely to be one of the regions worst hit by global warming.

New Delhi says it must use more energy to lift its population from poverty and that per-capita emissions are a fraction of those in rich states.

Mackenzie Gas Project to cost $16.2B ...and now not until 2014(maybe).

My question is - quadruple the cost, and 3 more years longer to build - will there be any permafrost to build on in 2014 :P

Heck, maybe they are just making the case for the first nuclear plant aimed at 2016 completion. Ha!

=====================
It's all about population!

New Zealand looks to 20% of electricity production from wind:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/3990564a13.html

As the article points out existing/building plants will generate 3-4% and planned (though not approved capacity) can take that to 20%.

Interesting development at University of Central Missouri (Warrensburg, MO...my wife is a professor there):

The Provost at the university, Y.T. Shah, resigned today after only starting the position in August 2006 to go to work at ARAMCO. This was a very sudden, unexpected announcement at the university with many people left scratching their heads because he had begun a huge process of remolding the university since he began.

He has been a consultant in the petroleum industry for many years. He has written a book called "Cavitation Reaction Engineering"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0306461412/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-6597357-611...

Now, why does ARAMCO need someone that is an expert in bubble formation? What are cavitation engineers used for in the petroleum industry? Perhaps pumping CO2 or nitrogen gas into oil fields?

DEBUNKING TODAY'S ETHANOL HIT-PIECES.

From Swan’s Deceitful Solutions:

“one has to ask whether the ratio between energy consumed to produce ethanol and energy created from its production is negative or positive… The jury remains out on the first question.”

- Is a fallacious statement.

“Other experts, often sponsored by industry interests like the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, have contradicted their findings.”

- Is a straw man argument. There are no other researchers other than Patzek & Pimentel who claim corn ethanol to be net energy negative irrespective of where the funding comes from. Patzek & Pimentel (including the 05’ paper) have been thoroughly debunked by 90% of the scientific community.

“Mexicans have seen their food staple, the tortilla, almost double in price in recent years”

- Is a fallacious statement based on the premise that corn ethanol made from yellow corn has forced the price of white corn for tortillas to double in price. Such an assertion is an impossibility for the amount of white corn used in tortillas is but pennies in the total price and could therefore not possibly double the price of a tortilla. The cost of tortillas in Mexico has everything to do with NAFTA’s effects http://tinyurl.com/2j3vxy and middle men price gouging confirmed by Mexican MSM and posted here by me on prior occasion. See: “Who’s Afraid of the High Price of Corn” IATP http://tinyurl.com/ypa2cm

“Since ethanol is such a bonanza, farmers have reverted to mono-cropping”

- Another straw man argument. Mono-cropping in North America has been around for decades and is the direct result of factory meat production for animal feed of which corn and soy are the largest protagonists.

“Who profits? Corporations like Cargill, ADM, Louis Dreyfuss S.A.S.”

- Another straw man argument. No question large corporations profit, however, it is the average corn farmer, rural community, local economy, farmer co-operative and independent ethanol producers who profit as well. 50% of US corn ethanol plants are owned by farmers.

From Cornell Daily Sun's "Children of the Corn":

“Converting corn and sugar to ethanol is wildly energy-intensive. Professor Emeritus David Pimental Ph.D. ’51, entomology, has shown that “more fossil energy is still required to produce a liter of ethanol than the energy output in ethanol.” He and others have found that using ethanol requires about 70 percent more energy, usually fossil fuels, than it produces”

- Is a combined straw man argument and fallacious statement. Corn or sugar ethanol is not wildly energy intensive and who the ‘others’ are that the author refers to is beyond me, for ‘they’ do not exist.

“Producing ethanol results in a net loss of energy, but this isn’t even its worst feature”

- Is a fallacious statement.

“Because ethanol and most of its biofuel cousins require turning food into fuel, Bush and Obama are trying to make burning food a policy to meet our energy demands.”

- Another straw man argument. President Bush and the DOE are specifically targeting bio-chemical and thermo-chemical production. This is official policy.

“Monoculture plantations are mechanized, and ethanol farms will sell almost all of their crops to gas-guzzlers.”

- Ethanol farm?

“But biofuels, like carbon trading and offsetting, have huge costs and don’t reduce emissions”

- Is a fallacious statement.

“Over 1 in 6 people on our planet is malnourished, and millions die every year from malnutrition-related diseases and food insecurity. Burning corn to drive our cars, instead of using it to feed people isn’t a very responsible strategy”

- Is a straw man argument. People go hungry in this world as a direct result of protectionist and subsidized trade policy coupled with unfair and disparate financial distribution. Less than 1/3 of one percent of US corn exports are destined for the world’s poorest countries. Google Oxfam or WTO and corn dumping for but a sampling of the devastation wrought.

“Ethanol production has been damned worldwide for appropriating soils and natural resources from poor people to fuel America’s massive consumption.”

- Is a fallacious statement.

“At November’s Kyoto Conference in Nairobi, indigenous groups from around the world condemned biofuel and ethanol production for its role in turning their food-growing land into our gas stations.”

- Is another fallacious statement. Enemy number 1 of the Kenyan and other African governments is protectionist trade policies http://tinyurl.com/3yvdzm while Tree Hugger reports that progressive movements in Kenya are actively pursuing ethanol production as a way to mitigate the “runaway petroleum crisis” http://tinyurl.com/35whn8

“Ethanol is a very bad idea pushed by liars who hope you’re ignorant to ethanol’s cost and indifferent to the people it starves.”

- Is a grossly fallacious statement. The only liar here, is the author of this article.

That's it! This ethanol thing has gone too far!

Corn prices making Coke gulp

Coca-Cola may investigate alternatives to high fructose corn syrup, its main sweetener in the U.S. market, because of high corn prices, a company executive said Monday.

"The price increases that we're seeing for corn and high fructose corn syrup are unlike we've seen in many a year. We're clearly feeling the pinch and it's been tough," said Scott Young, a food service division executive at the company.
...
Corn prices have recently soared as more of the crop is diverted to use in ethanol, the gasoline additive that has become more popular in the wake of higher fuel prices and increasing interest in cleaner-burning fuels.

An interesting news story from central China:

http://www.boxun.us/news/publish/chinanews/Riots_In_Hunan.shtml

Started on March 9th, thousands of farmers in YongZhou, Hunan Province protested the price-raise of bus ticket. Boxun reporter Zhang Zilin said the price was raised to 14 from 6 RMB.

Unfortunately the article does not indicate why bus tickets had been raised, but there had been earlier reports that the Chinese government wanted to wean the citizens off of subsidized fuel costs.

Latest IEA report bullish for oil:

http://www.advfn.com/news_IEA-keeps-2007-world-oil-demand-forecast-uncha...