World Bank says BIOFUELS behind world spike in food prices


	World Bank says BIOFUELS behind world spike in food prices

Spiritualmonkey

7-7-2008 10:18 AM

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tags:

food, biofuels, car-free, money, economics, politics, cars-suck, agriculture

Spiritualmonkey says:

Burn food to feed the automobiles rather than people. Ain't that peachy.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/3df49663-2f22-42db-84de-ae2a9bdbf1b3/F6E15C68-9CD7-4842-BAE2-0CC58D66E9B1/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/07/04/biofuel_food_price_bombshell/index.html" href="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/07/04/biofuel_food_price_bombshell/index.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.salon.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/07/04/biofuel_food_price_bombshell/index.html"><P>
The Bush administration states that corn-based ethanol only accounts for 3 percent of global food price inflation. The USDA's <A href="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/06/25/biofuels_and_food_prices/">chief economist disagrees</A> -- he says biofuels add up to 10 percent of food price hikes. Other estimates have gone much higher -- but until today, the most How the World Works had seen anyone claim was 40 percent. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/07/04/biofuel_food_price_bombshell/index.html"><P>
But now <A href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy" target="_blank">the U.K.'s the Guardian is reporting</A> that it has laid its hot hands on a confidential <I>World Bank</I> report that makes the astonishing claim that <I>75 percent</I> of the surge in global food prices can be attributed to biofuels. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/07/04/biofuel_food_price_bombshell/index.html"><P>
If true, biofuel mandates are without a doubt a <A href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7065061.stm" target="_blank">"crime against humanity."</A> We can only hold our breath and wait for the inevitable leakage of the full report and the ensuing feeding frenzy as the world feasts upon the data. But in the meantime, here's one clue as to how the World Bank came up with such huge numbers. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/07/04/biofuel_food_price_bombshell/index.html"> 75 percent is a big, big number. </blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/F6E15C68-9CD7-4842-BAE2-0CC58D66E9B1/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>