The New York Times reported Sunday that traders for large banks and other institutions hoarded the credits as new, stricter federal standards forced refiners to buy more of them. The result: a 20-fold spike in the price of the credits in six months.
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At the same time, the New York Times is reporting that some believe that large Wall Street firms have profited from trading ethanol credits, driving up their cost. So, we have banks against the oil industry against the farmers, apparently.
The RFS was ostensibly designed to produce cleaner car emissions and decrease America’s dependence on foreign oil. Sounds good—but not in practice.
Food price inflation is indeed complex, and there’s no simple way to prevent it. But there is a single step that government could take that would almost certainly significantly arrest the rapid rise in the cost of food: end ethanol energy mandates.