"Crime against humanity"

From this morning's Journal:

"When millions of people are going hungry, it's a crime against humanity that food should be diverted to biofuels," said India's finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, in an interview. Turkey's finance minister, Mehmet Simsek, said the use of food for biofuels is "appalling."

I have to say that I agree. Beyond jacking up world grain prices, biofuel production is extremely energy-intensive and causes additional environmental damage perhaps comparable to the damage caused by fossil fuel extraction.

Although the Journal doesn't say so, I am of the view that we, the United States, have contributed to runaway food prices not just by burning food in our cars. Our fiscal (low tax) and monetary (easy money) policies have encouraged Americans to consume, consume, consume and borrow, borrow, borrow (seen the movie Maxed Out?) Now that we can't pay the money back, all of the countries that export to us, and from whom we borrowed extravagantly to fund our buying, are stuck with (a) dollar-denominated debt and (b) currencies mostly pegged to the Dollar.

So not only is food in short supply and expensive, but the currency that hungry nations must use to buy it is eroding rapidly in value (see Helicopter Ben).

So the next time you see a big GM SUV with a badge on the back that says "FlexFuel Vehicle", Imagine it standing next to a hungry child somewhere.