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Comments on: Biofuel regulation and carbon prices http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/03/28/biofuel-regulation-and-carbon-prices/ The Visible Hand in Economics Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:45:59 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Biofuels and food prices « The visible hand in economics http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/03/28/biofuel-regulation-and-carbon-prices/#comment-1159 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:45:59 +0000 http://tvhe.wordpress.com/?p=310#comment-1159 […] prices are rising should impact our decision on whether to make biofuels mandatory (something I don’t agree with), as NZ’s demand for biofuels will be so small that it won’t have an impact […]

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By: carbonbuck http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/03/28/biofuel-regulation-and-carbon-prices/#comment-1158 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:19:21 +0000 http://tvhe.wordpress.com/?p=310#comment-1158 Toast with butter, washed down with a glass of milk. That’s the best argument for a carbon price in the form of a universal tax, and the best argument against a targeted policy aimed at promoting biofuels.

Wheat and dairy prices are soaring (I’m coming from a U.S. perspective) thanks to Washington’s political decision to wean farmers off growing crops for human consumption and push them towards growing crops for fuel consumption. Put a seed in the ground in Iowa and up comes a tax break.

Biofuels were never really about global warming, but about energy security. Forget economics and think politics. A map of economic growth in the United States shows crisis on the (Democrat-voting) coasts but generally healthy expansion in the traditionally Republican Midwest.

Things may get better with a new administration, but maybe not. All three major candidates dismiss a simple carbon tax in favor of complicated solutions that might have all sorts of unintended consequences. It might be best to stock up on long-life milk. In a few years’ time we might look back and fondly recall how cheap it was in 2008.

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