Thank you, Suckers!

A couple of novices get a lesson in economics...

Please read on...

Who’da thunk it, osama bin liner rabbiting on about gerbil wormenising…

Knock me down with a feather!

BTW, he’s correct about the West being the cause of increased starvation in the third woild - misallocation of arable land from food crop production to biofuel crops is the reason - so yes, credit where it’s due, you ol’ fundy psychopath.

Rabz of Sydney (Reply)
Sat 30 Jan 10 (11:25am)

aquahominoid replied to Rabz
Sat 30 Jan 10 (06:45pm)

Rabz, not sure if you are making a serious point about fuel production on arable land ; but I am going into lecture mode anyway.

Food production in the western world is actually in a state of over supply, hence the low farm gate price paid to farmers unless guv assisted.

The reason starving third world countries are starving is because their decrepid economies cannot afford western food imports.

The looming problem for food production is not actually land availability but fertilizer [phosphorous, potassium, nitrogen] availability. This is a result of rapidly growing ag. in China and India, and biofuel production.

Large tracts of prime ag. land in S.W.Victoria have been converted to timber plantations in the last decade, as farmers have left food production.

Rabz replied to Rabz
Sun 31 Jan 10 (11:41am)

I disagree.

Both Monckton and Mark Steyn have made the entirely legitimate point that converting arable land from the production of food crops to crops for biofuels is leading to food shortages.

It’s also a misallocation of resources, as there is no shortage of other fuels for motor vehicles.

And I’m beyond being lectured, BTW.

aquahominoid replied to Rabz
Sun 31 Jan 10 (03:46pm)

Starvation in the third world is a political problem, not an agricultural problem.

There will always be supply problems with motor vehicle fuel; unless hydrogen powered internal combustion can be configured. That looks about as promising as fusion energy at the moment.

Remember water is a greater problem than food in many countries [developed and undeveloped].

wreckage replied to Rabz
Sun 31 Jan 10 (10:35pm)

There is no undersupply of food.

There is an oversupply of food.

Trust me, I make my living- theoretically anyway- growing and selling food.

Rabz, neither Mark Steyn nor Monckton understand the growing, sale and distribution of bulk food. I do. It’s what I have done more or less my whole life and what my family have done for three generations.

You can talk about how you’re beyond being lectured all you want, it won’t change the facts. The “food shortage” argument is a very bad argument against biofuels because it is based on a completely false assertion.

First, biofuel crops and food crops are not simply exclusive- agriculture doesn’t work like that. If you grow a canola crop and follow it with a wheat crop you’ll get better wheat yields and need less pesticides. If you grow wheat and ferment it for ethanol you’re still left with most of the protein intact, which goes on to feed stock.

The main competitor in the Western world for human-digestible carbohydrate is..... livestock. Which we then eat.

Rabz replied to Rabz
Mon 01 Feb 10 (01:49pm)

OK - enough.

At no point did I claim there is an undersupply of food, only certain types of food.

Please read this linked article and this linked article - OK they're old, but there was enough evidence at the time that certain food staples widely eaten in the third woild (due to the fact they WERE affordable) were increasing in price - and as such the ‘decrepid economies’ reliant on such staples were not able to purchase as much, leading to food shortages (and attendant riots) in hellholes such as Haiti.

Therefore - decreased supply of certain basic food staples = increased prices of said staples = lower affordability of said staples = starvation of peons in ‘decrepid economies’ in the third woild.

All because sanctimonious inner urban western hypocrites want to put biofuels in their motor vehicles in order to feel good about themselves for no real reason (to paraphrase Steyn). BTW, Paul Sheehan mentions the food crop V biofuel debate in today's silly moaning ‘erald, as well.

This post is becoming too long in the tooth, so I won’t be coming back to it.

I’ll look forward to no doubt encountering both of you in the near future.