Save the world!!! ... by starving the poor?

Every policy decision that fixes a problem creates a new one. Ain't that a fact.

At my last meeting of my Spanish-language discussion group, the subject was literature and the environment.

A Costa Rican economic development dude who works with Latin businesses up and down Lake Street, brought up ethanol and biofuels, and how they've been a double-edged sword for developing countries, and probably for the U.S., too. It was once foreseen that increased demand for corn-based fuel products would give poor countries something they could market to the world.

Corn is relatively common and inexpensive to grow, after all.

That plan has worked -- in a strange way, almost too well. The growing price of corn is hitting the poor where it hurts most by raising food costs everywhere.

For more on that, here's an article from the Star Tribune:

"Rush to biofuels leaves a world of emptier plates
In 2007, two University of Minnesota economists forecast that biofuels would sharply increase food prices by 2020, leading to many more empty bellies in the world. How wrong they were. It took only a year. Updated 20 minutes ago"

Here's what I have to say, and the world had better by god damn listening:

Ouch!