Obama Pushes For Higher Food and Fuel Prices

Yep... it's true.

(*SIGH*)

Enjoy this "stand alone" newsbite:

Campaigning in Missouri Valley, Iowa, yesterday, President Obama announced yet another government spending program - this time designed to inflate meat prices in Midwest swing states.

YEP. YOU READ THAT RIGHT!

"Today the Department of Agriculture announced that it will buy up to $100 million worth of pork products, $50 million worth of chicken, and $20 million worth of lamb and farm-raised catfish," Obama explained to reporters in front of a drought-stricken cornfield.

ONE... MORE... TIME: THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CURRENTLY BORROWS 43-CENTS OF EVERY DOLLAR IT SQANDERS. AND YET... OBAMA KEEPS ON COMING UP WITH NEW WAYS TO INCREASE GOVERNMENT SPENDING - WHILE SQUEEZING OUT PRIVATE PURCHASES AND THUS SPURRING CONSUMER INFLATION.

FOLKS... THIS IS REAL... THIS IS NOT A SNL SKIT... IT'S NOT AN ONION REPORT...

(*SIGH*)

"Prices are low, farmers and ranchers need help, so it makes sense," Obama explained. "It makes sense for farmers who get to sell more of their product, and it makes sense for taxpayers who will save money because we're getting food we would have bought anyway at a better price."

WHAT IS HE BABBLING ABOUT...?!?! IT'S CRONY CAPITALISM DIRECTED TO FARM STATES DURING A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN USING TAXPAYER MONEY (BORROWED FROM THE FRIGGIN' CHINESE!) AND YOU AND I ARE PAYING $3.09 LB. FOR FRIGGIN' CHOPMEAT! (SEE NEWSBITE #1 - Wednesday, August 15, 2012!)

None of this makes sense. In fact, Obama's move only harms American consumers while protecting a corrupt federal program.

A drought is currently driving down corn production. The shortage of feed is forcing livestock producers to slaughter animals early, putting downward pressure on meat prices in the short run and guaranteeing shortages and higher prices next year. But nature is not the biggest factor in this crisis - the government is!

Specifically...

(*DRUM ROLL*)

...the federal government's ethanol mandate, which requires that 13.2 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol be produced in 2012.

INSANITY...!!!

Thanks to the ethanol mandate, more than 40 percent of the nation's corn crop now goes into the production of a useless fuel that hardly anyone would buy if the government didn't require it!

ETHANOL IS APPROXIMATELY 25% LESS ENERGY PRODUCTION EFFICIENT (BTUs) THAN PETROLEUM. THEREFORE, IF YOUR TANK HAS 5%... 10%... 15%... 20%... 85% ETHANOL IN IT... (*SIGH*)... YOU'RE GETTING LOWER GAS MILEAGE BECAUSE THE ETHANOL IS DELUTING THE GAS MILEAGE YOU'D GET FROM PETROLEUM ALONE!

YES... YOU, MY REGULAR READERS, GET ALL THIS. YOU KNOW THIS! BUT THE AVERAGE SCHMUCK DOESN'T!

Only 36% of the corn crop now goes for feed, and 24% goes for food.

INSANITY...!!!

Obama could solve this problem instantly by suspending the federal ethanol mandate - something his EPA actually can do unilaterally and legally.

BUT HE WON'T!

Instead, Obama will buy up meat - a move that meat producers say won't help them much anyway. "It doesn't solve the problem of having enough affordable corn next summer," industry analyst Steve Meyer told Reuters. "Without changing the ethanol program, nothing can be done," he said.

OBAMA KNOWS THIS. HE JUST DOESN'T CARE.

The higher corn prices caused by the mandate and the drought have also driven up the price of ethanol by 33% since May, which means - again, thanks to the mandate - higher gas prices at the pump.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

Nationally, the average price of a gallon of gas rose 16 cents in July, an all-time record hike for that month. Prices rose an additional eight cents just last week. Gas is already more than four dollars a gallon in California and is expected to go higher.

Hailing from the corn-producing state of Illinois, Obama has always been a supporter of special government benefits for ethanol producers.

MEANING HE'S BEEN WORKING ALL HIS CAREER TO SCREW THE AMERICAN CONSUMER!

But even environmentalists rejected ethanol long ago, when scientists established that it actually increases carbon and smog emissions.

(*HEADACHE*)

To recap... government is driving up the cost of food, animal feed and gasoline, and Obama's solution is to drive up meat prices as well.

YEP.

OH... AND AGAIN...

Obama could eliminate the entire problem overnight and reduce carbon emissions were he to waive the ethanol mandate in a time of drought.

BUT HE WON'T!

Instead, he is creating a new spending program to mollify livestock producers, who, were it not for the ethanol mandate, would be able to make an honest living without his help.

Last week, Obama said he wants to do for other industries what he did for General Motors. If by this he meant waste taxpayers' money to preserve a lousy status quo, then bravo and mission accomplished.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

BRAVO, MR. PRESIDENT... (*SIGH*)... BRAVO...