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Southwestern Indiana | I never really post that much - just read and usually ignore the ethanol posts. A while ago I picked up a magazine while in the bathroom and threw it back down as soon as I read where it was mentioning ethanol's current (lack of) impact on the market. It was right I'm sure, I just get tired of hearing about it. I'm not going to preach - even though I consider a strict interpretation of the constitution and laissez fairesm to be the ideal - that there should be no ethanol mandate. It's philosophically wrong, IMO, but when the federal gov't steals everyone's money and gives more than $500 million for Plannned Parenthood to kill, chop up, and sell baby parts, trillions in wars I don't believe in, and Obama has spent more money ($74 million) on vacations in seven years than I'll ever see in my lifetime - I don't get real upset at the ethanol mandates, grain subsidies, or whatever else. BUT, ten years ago - before the mandate - the corn market didn't have $2 to lose; there were no $250 cash rents; yada yada yada. I can't blame landlords for wanting as much as what they hear their neighbor's getting, and if you look at paying them 1/3 the gross, $250 dollars does equal close to $125 or so ten years ago. What I feel doesn't get the blame - rather than the market or land - are inputs. People can go on about padlocking grain, not being greedy and selling when you know you can make a little, or minimize losses, but isn't the obvious thing inputs?? I've told so many people that if I'd known ten years ago that corn was going to be $3.65, I'd been getting plans drawn up for my new lake house, etc.
THEN... comes the BS line "oh you're paying for our technology" and rhetorical questions about how great the yields been (provided the river doesn't get it) You know what, my TV picture has gotten better! My computer has gotten faster. The last of the Model T's were better than the first - and cheaper. I suppose they'd provide provide you with some justification for their cont'd gouging despite the markets downturn and distorted parallel to 10 years ago - unlike rent. Myabe they'd even be honest about it and say they have to charge us more here so they can go and give everything to farmers in South America and BFE locations around the world - which only causes more supply. And it makes less sense for crude to be where its at and fertilizer at $400/ton.
At least with trying to focus on inputs, people can at least vote with their dollars or innovate some other ways of substituting/doing without. I don't have the answers, but it seems to be the correct target. As far as ethanol - which I believe is the culprit, I think it was Von Mises who said that for every one gov't intervention, you have two unintended consequences.
Edited by GenX 2/7/2016 14:56
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It's not the market
