The US government killed your Superbowl hot wings, basically.
You might have won the fight against being forced to move by the First Lady, America, but that doesn’t mean that the government has given up the fight on trying to make you eat something green.
They may not be getting into your face with “plate percentage” infographics and celebrity pleas to take up double dutch, but late night TV antics aren’t the only front in this war. While you were busy trying to figure out ways to do your patriotic duty and avoid exercise, the Renewable Fuel Standards were coming for your hot wings.
Super Bowl wing consumption is down about one percent, or 12.3 million wings, compared to last year’s numbers, but not because demand for them is declining. Quite the opposite, explains Bill Roenigk, chief economist and market analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based National Chicken Council.
“Chicken companies produced about one percent fewer birds last year, due in large part to record high corn and feed prices,” Roenigk said. “Corn makes up more than two-thirds of chicken feed and corn prices hit an all-time high in 2012, due to two reasons: last summer’s drought and pressure from a federal government requirement that mandates 40 percent of our corn crop be turned into fuel in the form of ethanol. Simply put, less corn equals higher feed costs, which means fewer birds produced.”
OMG, so how much do you want to work for the Chicken Council?
Anywhoo.
So, apparently, this was an incredibly hot summer, which means that a great deal of the nation’s corn crop didn’t survive. At the same time, because the government cannot adjust their plans for things that are predictable months ahead of time, the Renewable Fuel Standards diverted a huge chunk of the nation’s corn crop to make biofuels that most cars don’t use (in fact, we knew back in 2010 subsidizing ethanol was a complete waste of time and money, and now the situation makes even less sense with the introduction of cellulosic biofuels). Combine the diversion with the drought and you have record high corn prices on a crop that the United States is the best and most prolific at producing.
Because, obviously.
All that means that livestock – including chickens – has been on the decline, since farmers can’t afford larger herds. And that means that chicken wings are more expensive this year than last. Which means because of the policies of the US government, it’ll cost more (and will be less likely) that you’ll have hot wings at your Superbowl bash. And that should mean that you should be p*ssed. If the government just took stock of the current status of technology – and, for that matter, cared that food prices have gone up 3-4% because of their incompetence and lack of foresight – your appetizers would live to see another day.
Alas, they’ll have to sit this one out.
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Barack Obama hates Vladimir Putin, doesn’t wear ties now.
TweetEmail TweetEmailThese men are clearly having the awesomest time at the G8 summit in -
The government hacked into Sharyl Attkisson’s computer, probably.
TweetEmail TweetEmail Technically, we don’t know that. But this is Friday and unless someone
I cry, “fowl” !
(Thank you, I’ll be appearing at Joe’s Comedy Club on Thursday night. Two drink minimum, but I recommend buying four or five drinks if you actually expect to laugh at my jokes.)
This is the inevitable result of Democrat/Marxist interference in our lives: shortages, rationing and bubbles, with no discernible benefit.
We conservatives are big on talking about the advantages of market forces except when we don’t want to. Is ethanol driving up the cost of feed corn, yes to a degree but other cereal crops such as wheat and barley are are proportionally high as well, so it isn’t simply ethanol that is responsible, other market forces are at play here as well. Incidentally, one of the byproducts of producing ethanol is a high protein corn mash used for feed. Whoda thunk it. Ethanol is made out of the starches in the corn leaving behind the protein which is what is desired in animal feed. So what is the problem then? Some producers do not want to convert their handling systems to use this feed, so there isn’t really a shortage of feed, just growers who do not want to invest to handle a different type of feed. Market forces again.
Then there is the cost issue. When the cost of steel goes up the price of cars go up as well. But since corn and poultry are traded commodities, if corn goes up the price of chicken does not necessarily go up as well. Thus when the grower pays more for feed and the market does not pay him more for his chicken, he cuts his production until the market responds and pays him a price that allows him to make money. Market forces.
But, but, many say, the government is interferring here. Yes that is true, but do you think that the government does not affect the price of cars, houses, or just about anything else you can name? The difference here is, now corn is at a price where the grower can cover cost of production and make a profit. At this point the government does not subsidize the cost of corn. But consumers say it is too expensive and want the grower to get less so they pay less, but this means the grower no longer makes a profit and now needs a subsidy to stay afloat. But the same people who do not want the price of corn to go up then do not want tax dollars going to pay crop subsidies.
My advice, if you want cheap chichen wings, set up a pen, spend your own time and money, grow your own chickens and get a first hand lesson on just how cheap things really are at the grocery store.
I kind of want to do that now. But I also kind of want to be one of these farmers that they pay not to grow stuff.
Sir, correct me if I’m wrong, but there is actually a federal mandate which, uh, mandates a certain percentage of gasoline that must contain ethanol.
So, to a degree, it is not really “market forces” at play so much as “government forces.”
Mr. Thresherman,
So, exactly how much money are you making from corn ?
