Greed creating Greed

On Friday October 31st, VeraSun one of the nations largest publicly held producers of ethanol declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In a statement the company said that in a panic mode they locked in $6.75 to $7.00 corn, which sank to $4.00. In the process VeraSun said the company had lost $63 to $103 million due to bets on corn. Why the range? Haven't they figured it out yet? On Sunday November 2nd an article in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader covered a letter, which was sent to the Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Schafer, requesting help from USDA in the form of loan guarantees for banks lending to agribusinesses. Among others, the letter was signed by the National Corn Growers Association. Let's remember one thing now. It is the NCGA that almost single handedly greased the pockets of every congressman and achieved passage of the federal mandate to produce ethanol, the Energy Policy Act. To think that the NCGA, after spending millions of dollars on congressmen to pass EPA would have the gall to ask for loan guarantees for some of its largest members, such as VeraSun is a vulgar and hideous act.

In fact, NCGA and congress and President Bush are totally responsible for placing almost all of the livestock feeding industry in bankruptcy. If anyone should have access to government loan guarantees it is the cattle and hog and poultry farmers of the USA. These are the people and companies who have suffered measurably in terms of major financial losses because of the extraordinary high price of corn during this past year, all driven by the NCGA greed for high profits from a product mandated by the federal government.

What a combination for financial disaster. The largest lobby in the country in combination with greedy congressmen and women.