Comments on: Soaring Commodity Prices

By: jaehwan

jaehwan — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:50:35 +0000

I have a friend who won’t support biofuels for the very same reason you mention. I wonder what the alternative is. Nuclear energy causes (more or less) permanent waste, and solar seems to be hitting some serious material roadblocks. Plus, neither of these currently have any short-term expectations of being applicable to cars.

The main problem is transportation. What other alternatives to combustion are there? I sure hope they figure it out.

By: jansob

jansob — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:15:00 +0000

One of the big problems is the diversion of farm production into biofuel crops…we’re turning food into fuel, but production is not ramping up, it’s just being redistributed.

Biofuels are going to result in mass starvation in some parts of the world. When corn is worth more as biodiesel than as cornmeal, guess who can afford to buy it….not the poor. Enough food to feed 450 million people will be turned into fuel this year, and there is nothing to replace the food.

Putting more land into production won’t help in the long run as it exacerbates global warming by clearing more forest for monoculture.

This is not a left/right issue, both the Dems and Repubs are backing biofuels….which are not as clean or efficient as they are claimed to be.

We’ve got to stop burning stuff for energy, or this world is going to get a lot worse.

By: The Fighting 44s » Blog Archive » Costco and Sam’s Club Limiting Bulk Rice purchases

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:59:34 +0000

[...] Costco is limiting bulk purchases of 50 lb. bags of rice, while Sam’s Club is limiting purchases of 20 lb. bags. As all the 44’s would probably guess, the reason behind the rationing is the soaring energy and commodity prices in the global market. [...]

By: jaehwan

jaehwan — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:28:49 +0000

I guess not everyone is affected by the commodity prices. Either that, or they just wanted to get their “money’s worth.” What a shame.

There was a “commodity prices” special on the news yesterday, and the point they kept making was that the planet has enough food. It’s just that not everyone has access to it.

By: uRB4N

uRB4N — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:18:47 +0000

I was at the Knicks/Celtics game last week at MSG and they set up an All-You-Can-Eat buffet with free beer which was ransacked by a bunch of white fratboys.

One of them decided it would be funny to grab 10 hot dogs, take a single bite out of each, and throw them on the floor.

By: jaehwan

jaehwan — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:05:32 +0000

We’re in some serious trouble. It takes commodities to encourage progress and economic growth, but yet commodities cost so damn much.

Oi, and it’s unfortunate that so many people are starving while the rich are getting richer. I don’t fault the ultra-wealthy, but it’s unfortunate.

By: nightshade

nightshade — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:19:17 +0000

I just just thinking about this the other day. We’re all so fucked.