What a surprise.
We’ve all heard of the law of unintended consequences, but what about all of the obvious consequences of stupid policy, such as the possibility that the United States, with ample Democratic support (see, e.g., here ) , will try to replace carbon based fuels with biofuels, which may themselves do little to combat global warming. Isn’t it obvious that if you create a huge (and in this case subsidized) demand for a finite product that you will cause massive shortages, or at the very least price increases that leave some people unable to pay. And when that product is food necessary to feed an overpopulated world, isn’t the result fairly obvious. It is to the UN:
Diverting sugar and maize for biofuels could lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths from hunger worldwide, the United Nations’ food envoy warned on Thursday.
Jean Ziegler, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, accused the European Union (EU), Japan and the United States of “total hypocrisy” for promoting biofuels to cut their own dependency on imported oil.
Fears over climate change have boosted the demand for alternative fuels in wealthy countries, but the rise of biofuel has been criticized by some who say it will put a squeeze on land needed for food.
“There is a great danger for the right to food by the development of biofuels,” Ziegler told a news briefing held on the sidelines of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
“It (the price) will be paid perhaps by hundreds of thousands of people who will die from hunger,” he added.
Note, by the way, that the obligatory quote from someone denying the obvious comes from an anonymous source.
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